The geometry of the triple junction between three fluids in equilibrium

Abstract

We conduct an analysis of the blow up at the triple junction of three fluids in equilibrium. Energy minimizers have been shown to exist in the class of functions of bounded variations, and the classical theory implies that an interface between two fluids is an analytic surface. We prove two monotonicity formulas at the triple junction for the three-fluid configuration, and show that blow up limits exist and are always cones. We discuss some of the geometric consequences of our results.