Minimality of balls in the small volume regime for a general Gamow type functional

Abstract

We consider functionals given by the sum of the perimeter and the double integral of some kernel $g:\mathbb R^N\times\mathbb R^N\to \mathbb R^+$, multiplied by a "mass parameter" $\varepsilon$. We show that, whenever $g$ is admissible, radial and decreasing, the unique minimizer of this functional among sets of given volume is the ball as soon as $\varepsilon\ll 1$.