manuscripta math.

70, 51 - 65 (1990) manuscripta

mathematica
9 Springer-Verlag1990

EMBEDDED SOLUTIONS FOR EXTERIOR MINIMAL

SURFACE PROBLEMS

Ernst Christoph Kuwert

We construct area minimizing hypersurfaces in ~ n + l which satisfy a Plateau

or free boundary condition and become asymptotic to a plane (n > 2) or to the
half of a catenoid (n = 2). For n < 6 these surfaces are free from singularities.

Introduction
In this paper we are concerned with the following exterior version of the n-di-
mensional Plateau problem: Suppose F C [Rn + l is a smooth, connected, com-
pact, and oriented submanifoId without boundary of dimension n-1 . Does F
bound a minimal hypersurface with prescribed asymptotic behaviour near infi-
nity? We give an affirmative answer to this question in two cases:

First, there ezists always an embedded minimal surface (possibly with interior
singularities if n > 7) with boundary P which is asymptotic to a plane. In fact
the normal of the plane can be prescribed. For n < 6 this was also proved by
methods similar to ours in an earlier paper of Tomi and Ye [11], who mainly
treated the problem in the class of minimal immersions into $3. The approach
presented here in sections 1 and 2 was developed in my Diploma thesis [6] on
the proof of the positive mass conjecture due to Schoen and Yau [9] . In that
proof the existence of a certain minimizing hypersurface converging to a plane
(in an asymptotically flat manifold) plays a crucial role.

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 Kuwert

Secondly, suppose F is a smooth, closed curve turning once around a catenoid

C in ~3. Then F bounds an embedded minimal surface asymptotic to a verti-
cal translate of the upper half of C . This is proved in section 5 by adapting the
arguments used in the planar case.

Of course, the exterior problem can also be posed in connection with different
boundary conditions. As an example, we produce asymptotically planar mini-
mal surfaces with free boundary in a compact hypersurface in section 3.

Our proofs are carried out in the framework of geometric measure theory. The
exterior behaviour of the solutions is obtained with the aid of Allard's interior
regularity theorem [1]. We also have to use the boundary regularity results of
Hardt and Simon [5] and of Grfiter [3]. In [11] exterior regularity for the
two-dimensional case was based on a priori estimates for the second fundamen-
tal form of stable minimal surfaces derived by Schoen.

The results of this paper are part of the author's Thesis [7], which was written
with support of SFB 256 at University Bonn.

Notation
For n _>2 we consider ~n+l = ~nx~ and denote by p the projection onto the
first factor. Balls and annular regions are named as follows:
B(x,p) = {y E ~ n + l : lY-Xl < P}
Bn(r) = {4 E ~n: 141 < r}, % = s

E(r) = {~ E ~n: I~l > r}

A(rl ' r2 ) = e rl < < r 2}
Subsets of ~n are endowed with the standard orientation. The references for
the notation of geometric measure theory are [2] and [10]. Our solutions will be
obtained in the class ~n,loc(~n + l ) of locally rectifiable, n-dimensional cur-
rents in ~n+l with integer multiplicity. We denote by :Zn(~n+l ) the subclass
of currents with compact support. To each T E ~n,loc(~n+l) there is asso-
dated a countably n-rectifiable, ~n-measurable set M r ~ n + l , a multiplicity
function e E L]oc(~/n~-M; ~), and a measurable orientation function
~?: M ~ h n ( i R n + l ) with T(x) E An(TxM ) and [T(x) l = 1 for ~n-a.e.

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 Kuwert

point x E M . We write T = r ( M , O , T ) and denote by ~ = ~ n ~ - O the

Radon measure associated to T . The operation of T on an n-form w is then
given by

9 =f f
i[
An example is the current [M] = r(M, 1, IVI) induced by an oriented manifold
M.

1. Minimizing currents asymptotic to a plane

1.1 For given h o_)0, Ro > 0 , R > R o, Co E ~ we consider aclass CR of
currents T E :~n(~n+l) defined by the following properties:
(1) T is minimizing in ~n+l (see [10], 33.1)
(2) spt O(T - [Bn(R)]) C Bn(Ro) x [-ho,ho]
(3) M(T) (_ an Rn + CO
CR depends on R and the parameters T = {n,Ro,ho,Co} . Elements of CR
should be regarded as approximating surfaces for a desired limit as R tends to
infinity where T is fixed.

1.2 Lemma. For T E CR the following statements hold:

(1) spt T C Bn(R)x[-ho,ho]

(2) (p#T)~-A(Ro,R) = [A(Ro,R )] , and p-l{~} N spt T is nonernpty for all
E A(Ro,R ) .
(a) ~r(p-IB) _<Zn(B) + C o + % R o fo~ all B C ~n.
Proof. (i) is a consequence of the convex hull property. (2) follows from the
constancy theorem [2],because
spt 0p#(T + [E(R)I) = spt p# 0(T - [Bn(R)]) r Bn(Ro ) .
By [10], 33.3 we may assume that T = r(M,O,~?) where M is relatively
closed in ~n+l~spt 0T. For A C A(Ro, R) we obtain

P~r(p-IA) = f Z , O(x)jMp(x)-id~n(~) ->s

A xEp-'{~}nl

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 Kuwert

Given B C in we take A = A(Ro,R)~B and concludefrom I.i

p.r(p-lB)< p.r(p-lB) + pT(p-lA) -s < M(T) -s
< an Rn + C o -s )<s + C O + anR no 9

1.3 Remark. If Bn(Ro) c B, then 1.2(3)can obviouslybe improved to

p~r(p-iB) _<s + Co 9
For T E C R and x E spt T we use the notion of excess over ~n as defined in
[lOl, w
r,(x,p) = 1 J [PT M - p[2d/~ (y)
2pn B(x,p) Y

Co
1.4 Lemma. For T E CR , x E spt T , and p > Pl = Ro n 2(1 + a - - ~ ) we

have:
(1) pB(x,p) C A(Ro,R ) = > p,r(B(x,p)) _<~ a n pn
(2) pB(x,2p) C A(Ro,R ) = > E(x,p) < c(n)(~)2
Proof. (i) followsdirectlyfrom 1.2(3).Under the assumptions of (2) we can use
the Caccioppoliinequality[10],22.2 to obtain
E(x,p) < f n-{-1 n-t-1. _ (hoj 2
c (y ~x )z dP,r(y) < ~ an c P" . []
(2P) n s (x, 2p)

We are now in a position to apply a version of Allard's theorem due to Simon in

order to get a graph representation for an element of CR over a large sub-
domain of ~{n.

1.5 Lemma. There exist constants R 1 = RI(T), C 1 = Cl(n ) such that for A =
A(R1, R), ~ = n"+T' and any T E CR the following is true: T~-p-IA =
G#[A] for the graph map G of a suitable function u defined on A , which

satisfies
sup ([~[ [Du(~)[) + sup([ ~[l+ah61a(Du,~)) _<Clh o
~EA ~EA
(Here the H61der constant is computed by taking only those points 77E A for

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 Kuwert

which 0 < [~-~[ < 88

Proof Let ~ = ~(n,l,88 > 0, ~ = ,~n,l,88 ~ (o,1) be the parameters
in Allard's theorem [10], 23.1, and Pl ' c(n) be as in 1.4. Let It1 = max{2Ro'

4Pl , 4 ~ / - ~ e h o ' lq~Tho}

-- " Then, if x E s p t T with I t l < r = IPxl < w and
r
P = :t' we infer from 1.4, 1.2(1) and by the choice of R 1 :
3 n cn h~
#T(B(x,p)) < [ a n p , E(x,p) < ()(-~-) <e
[spt W fl {y e A n + l : [ p y - p x I < 72~}] r B(x,Tp)
Applying the regularity theorem [10], 23.1 we obtain the desired graph repre-
sentation by a function u defined on pB(x,:~) and moreover an a priori bound
(on this set)
ho
sup I Du I + pahSla(Du) -< c(n)E(x,P) 1/2 -< ~(n)(--~-).
The statement of the lemma follows immediately. []

We now establish the existence of a limit as tt tends to infinity.

1.6 Proposition. Let R i be a sequence of radii tending to infinity as i ~ | and

let T i E CRi for fixed parameters T = {n, Ito' ho' Co} (see 1.1). Moreover

assume that lira inf M(O(T i - [Bn(iti)])) is finite. Then there is a current
i.--4~
T e ~n,loc(~ n + l ) such that after passing to a subsequence the following state-

ments hold:
(1) T i ~ T in Tn(~ n + l ) , P'r. ~ #T in the sense of Radon measures.
1

T is minimizing in ~n+l and OT E :~n_l(~

n + l ).

(2) T~-p-IE(R1 ) = G # [ E ( I t l ) ] for the graph map G of a suitable func-

tion u . H e r e R I = R I ( T ) is as in 1.5.
(3) For any k E ~l there is a constant C k = Ck(T ) such that
sup (I ~lkIDku(~)[) <_C k .
~E(2R 1)
(4) u(~) has a limit u| E [-ho,ho] as I~l goes to infinity:

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 Kuwert

= [ 0 ( [ ~ [ -1) ifn----2
U(~) -- U
[ 0 ( [ ~ [ 2-n) i f n _> 3

Proof. In view of the uniform mass bounds provided in 1.2(3), (1) is assured by
general results in geometric measure theory (see [10], 34.5 and 30.3). (3) is im-
mediate from 1.5. Higher regttlarity [2], 5.2.18 then implies that u is a smooth
solution of the minimal surface equation. Interpreting this as a linear equation
we obtain the remaining statements, for example we could use [8], Thin. 1 and
Thm. 3. []

1.7 Remark. It is not excluded in 1.6 that the resulting current T is trivial in
the sense that it can be decomposed in the following way:
T=[tt]+T O with H = ~ n x { u |
M w ( T ) = ~/n(HNW) + Mw(Wo) for all open W (c ~ n + l
Although our construction can be extended to higher codimension without sig-
nificant change, in the applications it might then be difficult to rule out this
case in view of the following minimizing example:
W = [~2x{O}] + [{O}xS2(1)] E ~2,1oc(~2-~ 2)

2. The plane exterior Plateau problem

2.1 Let F C s n + l be a connected, compact, oriented, (n-l)-dimensional sub-
manifold without boundary of class C 1'~ for some a E (0,1) . By trans-
lating F we may assume that p r r Bn(Ro ) and
max{xn+l: x E F} = - min{xn+l: x E I'} = h ~ _) 0

The standard existence result [10], 34.1 implies that there is a minimizing cur-
rent T R E :Zn(-~n+l~) with 8(T R - [Bn(R)]) IF] . We observe that T R
=

belongs to the class CR from section 1 subject to the parameters T=

{n,Ro,ho, C o = M(To)}; here T o E ~n(~ n + l ) is minimizing with boundary
n

IF]. Clearly C o < c(n):~n-l(F) n-1 by the isoperimetric inequality [10], 30.1.

By 1.6, we can now pass to a limit T and set

reg T = {x E spt T : spt T is a manifold of class C l'a, possibly with
boundary, in a neighbourhood of x}
sing T = spt T ~ reg T

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 Kuwert

From interior regularity [10], 37.7 and boundary regularity [5], 11.1, as well as
from 1.6, we know that sing T is a compact subset of spt T ~ F with Haus-
dorff dimension at most n - 7. Again by 1.6, the multiplicity of T on the un-
bounded connected component M of reg T ~ F is equal to one. As observed by
Tomi and Ye (who in turn refer to a remark of B. White), boundary regularity
can be used to rule out the trivial case mentioned in 1.7:

2.2 Claim. There is an open neighbourhood U of F such that ]~I fl U is a

cl'a-submanifold of U with boundary F .
Proof. Let us first assume by contradiction that ~ fl F is empty. This means
that 0[M] = 0 and rM] minimizes in Rn+l (see [10], 37.8). We know from
1.6(4) that M converges to the plane II = Rnx{u| . By the convex hull pro-

perty and the constancy theorem it then follows that ]~I = sptrM] = H . But
tI fl F cannot be empty because of the connectedness of F . Hence ~ fl F is a
nonempty, closed subset of F . On the other hand the boundary regularity re-
sult of IIardt and Simon [5], 11.1 implies that ]f~ fl F is open in F , which in
turn means F C 1~[. Since the multiplicity of T must change across F , the
claim follows. []

We can now summarize the properties of our solution for the plane exterior Pla-
teau problem in the following way:
Theorem 1. For each F as in 2.1, there exists an open, connected, orientable,
smooth, minimal hypersurface M c ~ n + l with the following properties:
(1) [M3 is minimizing in ~ n + l ) and 0[M] = [F']
(2) There is an open neighbourhood U of F such that ]~N U is a
cl'a-submanifold of U with boundary F .
(3) The Hausdorff dimension of the singular set ]~I ~ (M (J F) does not ex-
ceed n - 7 , for n = 7 this set is finite.
(4) There exist constants R , C k depending only on n , diam F , ?/n-l(F)

such that M O p-IE(R) admits a graph representation by a function u

which satisfies sup (l~[klDku(~)l)(Ck for any keN. More-

over, u has a limit as ~ tends to infinity as in 1.6(4) .

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 Kuwert

3. Solutions with free boundaries

The above arguments can easily be modified to produce asymptotically planar
minimal surfaces with free boundary in a compact hypersufface. We will not
give a detailed proof of this here but only point out the major differences to sec-
tion 2. For more information see [7].

Theorem 2. Suppose S c ~n+l is a compact, connected hypersurface without

boundary of class C 2 . Then there is an open, connected, orientable, smooth,
minimal hypersurface M contained in the exterior component V of ~n+l ~ S
such that the following is true:
(1) spt 8[M] C S and [M] is minimizing with free boundary in S ; this
means M w ( [ M ] ) < M w ( [ M ] + X) for all X e Zn(~n+l) with
spt c~XcS and each open W with s p t X c W c c ~ n + l .
(2) Let reg M = {x e ]~I : ]~f is a manifold of class C 1 , possibly with
boundary, in a neighbourhood of x}. Then ]~f ~ reg M is a compact
set of Hausdorff dimension at most n-7 .
(3) r e g M ~ M is a nonempty subset of S , and regM meets S orthogo-
nally from the outside.
(4) M is asymptotic to a plane parallel to ~n as in Theorem 1, (4). The
corresponding parameters R , Ck depend at most on n and diam S.
On the proof. Let U be the bounded component of ~{n+l ~ S. After a trans-
lation we may assume that ~n N U ~ ~. We again start with the approximat-
ing surfaces T R e Zn([Rn+l) which are now supposed to minimize under the

condition spt 0(T R - [Bn(R)]) c S. By comparing with [Bn(R) ~ U] we ob-

tain the mass bound 1.1(3) with a negative CO . The mass of the free boundary
can be uniformly estimated by the argument of Griiter [4], 3.2. The limit T
provided by 1.6 still has the strong minimizing property of the T R because of

the convergence of the Radon measures. Hence spt T is contained in V , and

recalling 1.3 we see that T cannot be trivial in the sense of 1.7 since CO < 0.

Denoting by M the unbounded connected component of reg T one shows

T = [M:l and now applies the boundary regularity results of Griiter [3] to
finish the proof. []

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 Kuwert

4. Some technical properties of catenoids

The following facts about catenoids will be needed in section 5 .
4.1. A cateno:d - depending on a stretching factor a > 0 - is defined to be
the minimal surface of revolution
C = { x E ~ 3 : [pxl _>a,x 3 = i h ( I p x I ) } where
h ( r ) - - a a r c o s h ~r alogr§247 2 -2 )

C is the common boundary of an 'outer' component U = {x E ~3:

x3
Ipx[ > a cosh -~-} and of V = ~{3 ~ U . The unit normal on C converges to

the vertical direction as px ~ m. C has principal curvatures a(x) -- i a

ipxl ~.
4.2. Let d C be the oriented distance function from C , which we define to be

positive in U . F o r e E ~ we set
U -- {x E jR3: d c ( x ) > e} , V e - - ~ 3 ~ U e"
Then the nearest point projection PC onto C is defined and smooth in

V a ~ ~e 3 with J2Pc(X) -1 = 1 - (dc(x)r~PcX))2.

4.3. Let G:A(a)--~C +={xEC:x 3>0) denote the graph map of h. Then
1
we have J2G(~) = (i - (]-a~)2)- 5. Setting C(rl,r2) = C + n p-lA(rl,r2) we
compute:

~2(c(0,r))= ~r 2 { ~_ (~)2+ (~)2arcosh~ }

cf+Ipxl a d~2(x) = a2-aC(a) < | for all a > 2

4.4. For AC~3, re~ we let Ar={x~3:x-re 3EA} be the vertical

translate of A . For given h o > 0 and some disk B C E(v~a) we consider the
h
set W = {x E U o N V : px E B}. Using the convergence of the normal of C
as px ~ | we can estimate the area of B = (poPc) W as follows :

~2(~) _ ~2(B ) <_ ~{r a + ~1 ho2 ) _-C(ho,a

)..

4.5. Let again h o > 0, ? E (0,1) and suppose r > m a x { 2 - ~ 2h~

ho
if x e U NV is a point with Ipxl - > r , w e h a v e
h
{y e U o n V: IPy - pxl < ~ } c BCx,~r).

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 Kuwert

5. The catenoidal exterior Plateau problem

Using the notation introduced above, we now fix an orientation of a catenoid C
by requiring that p # [ C + ] = [A(a)] and assume the following data to be

given:
ho
S.l. (1) For some h o > 0 , F C U is an oriented, simply closed curve of
class C l ' a (0 < a < 1).
(2) F is contained in V and F N C is nonempty.
h
(3) IF] is homologous to the intersection circle S = O[CNU o] of C
h
and C o
h
(see [2], 4.4.1) : IF] - S E BI(U o ) .

Given an arbitrary curve F contained in the 'outer' region of a catenoid, we

can always bring up congruent, coaxial catenoids from below until they touch
F . Then h ~ as in 5.1(1) is obtained as the height difference of the upper and
the lower catenoid, and it will depend only on a and the shape of F .

We want to construct a minimal surface spanned by F and extending to in-

finity as the upper half of C . In order to get the approximating surfaces we let
S R = 0[{x E C: x 3 < h(R)}] and
1 .

CR(F ) = {T E :~2(~3) : spt W C U u~ , 02? = IF] + [SR] }

5.2 Lemma.
I .

(1) There e~sts T R ~ CR(F ) minimizing the area in U % .

h
(2) Let r o = ro(h o, a) be the radius of the intersection circle of C and C o

There ~ a constant CO > 0 depending not on R such that

M(TR) r ~2(C(ro,R)) + C O 9
Proof. Because IF] - S is a boundary by assumption 5.1(3), we know that

C={TE~2(~ 3):sptTCU "h~ ~T= rP]-S} isnonempty. Let

E = {x e ~3 : h o _ h _r x 3 r h o + h}
h-h o
Z = {x E ~3 : ipxl _<a c o s h - - ~ }

For suitably large h any T E C can be projected first onto E and then onto
Z without changing the boundary and without increasing the mass. Hence the
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 Kuwert

existence of a minimizing element T O E C follows in the usual way. Then

T O + [C(ro,R )] belongs to CR(F ) , and by repeating the above projection-ar-

gument we obtain a minimizer T R E CR(P ) which satisfies the claimed mass

bound with C O = M(To) . o

We next state a simple area comparison argument which provides a control of

the supports of the T R . For a proof see [7]. Let fl c ~3 be a region bounded
by a surface ~-~ of class C 2 , which has nonnegative mean curvature. Suppose
that for a given e > 0 the nearest point projection Pe onto R e = {x efl:
dist(x,0f~)>e} is defined on R and is of class C 1 in R ~ R e. Then, if
T E :~2(23) with spt T C R , we have (pE) # T E 22(~ 3) and

M ( ( p e ) # T ) < M ( T ) . Moreover, if Oil contains no fiat points, equality can

hold only if spt T C R e .

Now recall the discussion 4.2 of the parallel projection onto a catenoid and note
h
that lim dist(spt SR,C o) = ho ' Using the above type of a maximum prin-
It---~
ciple the following is immediate:

5.3 Lemma. There exists a sequence eR > 0 with lira eR =

l~---~
h h_
min{a,dist(P,C ~ such that spt T R is contained in U e : N V . In parti-

h
cular, T R does not lie on the barrier C o

Let R o > 0 be such that pC(F) C ~ . We abbreviate the occurring pa-

rameters by T = {a,Ro,ho,Co}. As in section 1, the following mass bound will
play a central role.

5.4 Lemma. For T R as in 5.2, the following is true :

(1) (pc)#TR~-C(Ro,R) = [C(Ro,R)] , and p c l { x } fl spt T R is nonempty for

all x E C(Ro,R ) .

(2) PTR(PC1B) < :~2(B) + C 1 for all B c C and a constant C 1 = CI(T ) .

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 Kuwe~

Proof. For (1) we can argue as in 1.2. Now let T R = T = ~M,O,~:). For each
x e M n PC IC(Ro,R) we concludefrom dc(x)2 < ho2 and from 4.2 that
(ho a)2
jMpc(X)-I > J2Pc(X)-1 = 1 - (dc(x)~(PcX))2 > 1 -
[p(PcX)l4"
If A c C(Ro,R ) we inferby the areaformula and by 4.3

pT(p--1
C A)= / Z O(x)jMpc(x)-I d~2(y)
A xepcl{y}NE
(h a) 2 ~ 2
> / (i -~y~)d?/Z(y)> :~2(A)-cho 9
A
Given B C C we can take A = C(Ro,R) ~ B and obtainfrom 5.2(2)
pT(p--1
C B) < p,r(pcIB) + pT(pcIA)-~2(A) + ch2o
< T2(C(ro,R))+ C O -?/2(A) + ch2o
< ~2(B) + ~2(C(ro,Ro)) + C o + Ch2o. o
5.5 Lemma. There is a constant Pl = Pl (T) such that for any x e spt T R and

P )- Pl the following implications hold:

(1) pB(x,p) C A(v~a,R) => p~rR(B(x,p))_<~ ~#2
(2) pB(x,2p) C A(q~a,R) = > E(x,p) < c(h([px~ +2p))2

Here the excess E(x,p) is defined as in section 1 and c is a universal constant.

Proof. Under the assumptions of (1), we define step by step B = pB(x,p),
h
W = {x e U o N V : px e B}, I3 = (poPc)W. Then we have by 5.3 and 5.4

PTR(B(x,P)) _<PTR(pCI(PcW)) _<~2(PcW ) + C 1

1
= f(1- dC2( )+ C1 (by 4.3)

< q~s + C 1 < q~(rp 2 + C(ho,a)) + C 1 (by 4.4)

(1) follows if we take Pl such that

q~C(ho,a)+C 1
2 =3_r
rP 1
Then (2) is an application of the Caccioppoli inequality as in 1.4. []
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 Kuwert

5.6 Lemma. There exist constants R 2 = R2(T ) and C 2 (universal) such that
for the above T R the following is true: There is a function u defined on
A = A(R2,2R) such that for the graph map G of u we have TRL_p-IA =
G # [ A ] . Moreover, u satisfies the estimate
4
sup I~1 sup I~1 ~h611/3(Du'~) < c2a
~eA ~eA logl~l - "

(see 1.5 for the definition of the HSlder constant) .

Proof. Let x e spt T R with Ipxl = r < ~ R . Assuming r _>R 2 we derive the
conditions on R 2 needed for applying Allard's theorem [10], 23.1 in the ball
r
B(x,p) of radius p = ~t :
(i) R 2 _) 2r = > pB(x,2p) C A(C2a,R)
(ii) R 2 _>4Pl = > p~R(B(x,p)) < ~ rp 2

(iii) R 2 > m a x { e = 2 . 7 1 . . . , 3 } = > l o g ~ _ < 3l o g r and logr

r is decreasing

for r > R 2 .
(iv) Let e = e(2,1,88 > 0 be the constant appearing in [10], 23.1 and c

be as in 5.5(2). If we require 6 4 c a 2 ( ~ 2 ~ 2 ) 2 <_ e, the excess cart be

estimated as follows:
arcosh
E(x,p) _<16ca 2 (, ~ ~a.)2 < 64ca2(lo_~rr)2 (by (iii))

< 6 4 c a 2 ( ~ R 2 ) 2 _< e

(v) Let also 7 = 7(2,1,88 e (0,1) be as in [10], 23.1. Assuming

8h~ , we obtain from 4.5

-> 7
h
{yeU ~ Ipy-pxl < 2~} C B(x,?p)
Now [I0],23.1 yields the desired graph representationby a function u defined
on pB(x,~) . Moreover, u satisfiesan a prioribound
1 i
sup IDul + p~hOll/3(Du ) _<c E(x,p)~ <_e" al~ r n

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We can now give our solution to the catenoidal exterior Plateau problem:
Theorem 3. Suppose P is a connected, simply closed curve of class C l ' a con-
tained in the outer region U of a catenoid C c ~3 and turning once around C
in the sense of degree theory. Then there is an embedded, connected, minimal
surface M contained in U with the following properties :
(1) ] ~ = M U P isofclass C l ' a with boundary F .
(2) [M] is minimizing in U ; in particular M is stable.
(3) There are constants R, C k depending only on the parameters T=

{a,ho,Ro,Co} defined in this section such that M n p-IE(R) admits a

graph representation by a function u satisfying
sup (1 1 k IDku(
~eE(R)
)l
logiC[ ) -<Ck for any k e ~ .

(4) M is asymptotic to a vertical translate of the upper half of C . More

precisely u has an ezpansion u(~) = alogl~ I + u | + 0(1~1-1) . Here

a is the given stretching factor of C (see 4.1) .

Proof. Let T be a limit of the T h , which exists because of the mass bound
h
5.4(2). Then T is minimizing in U o , and 5.3 imphes
ho) ho
dist (spt T,C > min{a,dist(P,C ),ho} ; in particular spt T ~ F is smooth.
The graph representation follows from 5.6 and higher derivatives can again be
estimated by [8], Thm. 1. Also, due to [8], Thin. 2, the graph function admits
an expansion
= logl + u| + o(I 9

Because of our upper and lower barriers we must in fact have ~ = a. Now let
M be the unbounded connected component of spt T ~ F . If ~ N F were
empty it would follow that for R suitably large {x e M : Ipxl < R} bounds a
ho
generator of the homology group HI(U ;/7) ~ ~, which is impossible. Using
boundary regularity [5] we see as in 2.2 that ~ is of class C l ' a with boun-
dary P . We observe that by the same topological argument as above
0[M] = IF] which in turn means T = [M] . []

5.7 Remark. For any F as in the theorem, there is an open intervall of simila-
rity factors a such that the assumptions of the theorem hold. As expected each
such F bounds a family of catenoidal solutions which are distinguished by the
parameter a .

64
 Kuwert

References

[1] Allard, W.K.: On the first variation of a varifold, Ann. of Math. 95,
417-491 (1972)
[2] Federer, H.: Geometric measure theory, Berlin-Heidelberg-New York
1969
[3] Griiter, M.: Optimal regularity for codimension one minimal surfaces
with a free boundary, Manuscr. Math. 58, 295-343, (1987)
[4] Griiter, M.: Regularity results for minimizing currents with a free
boundary, J. reine angew. Math. 375/376, 307-325 (1987)
[5] Hardt, R., Simon, L.: Boundary regularity and embedded solutions for
the oriented Plateau problem, Ann. of Math. 110, 439--486 (1979)
[6] Kuwert, E.: On the minimal hypersurface proof of the positive energy
theorem, Vorlesungsreihe SFB 256, Nr. 14 (1990)
[7] Kuwert, E.: Eingebettete LSsungen yon AuBenraumproblemen fiir
Minimalfl~chen, Dissertation, Bonn 1990; in preparation.
[8] Meyers, N.: An expansion about infinity for solutions of linear elliptic
equations, J. Math. and Mech. 12, 247-264 (1963)
[9] Schoen, R., Yau, S.T.: On the proof of the positive mass conjecture in
general relativity, Comm. Math. Phys. 65, 45-76 (1979)
[10] Simon, L.: Lectures on geometric measure theory, Proceedings C.M.A.
3, Canberra 1983
[11] Tomi, F., Ye, R.: The exterior Plateau problem, preprint, Univ. Hei-
delberg (1988)

Ernst Christoph Kuwert

Sonder forschungsbereich 256
Institut fiir Angewandte Mathematik
der Universit~t Bonn
Beringstr. 4
D-5300 Bonn 1

(Received August 25, 1990)

65