We show the existence of a smooth spherical surface minimizing the Willmore functional subject to an area constraint in a compact Riemannian three-manifold, provided the area is small enough. Moreover, we partially classify complete surfaces of Willmore type with positive mean curvature in Riemannian three-manifolds.
@article{AIHPC_2013__30_3_497_0, author = {Lamm, Tobias and Metzger, Jan}, title = {Minimizers of the Willmore functional with a small area constraint}, journal = {Annales de l'I.H.P. Analyse non lin\'eaire}, volume = {30}, year = {2013}, pages = {497-518}, doi = {10.1016/j.anihpc.2012.10.003}, zbl = {1290.49090}, language = {en}, url = {http://dml.mathdoc.fr/item/AIHPC_2013__30_3_497_0} }
Lamm, Tobias; Metzger, Jan. Minimizers of the Willmore functional with a small area constraint. Annales de l'I.H.P. Analyse non linéaire, Tome 30 (2013) pp. 497-518. doi : 10.1016/j.anihpc.2012.10.003. http://gdmltest.u-ga.fr/item/AIHPC_2013__30_3_497_0/
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