Existence and symmetry of periodic nonlocal-CMC surfaces via variational methods

Abstract

This paper provides the first variational proof of the existence of periodic nonlocal-CMC surfaces. These are nonlocal analogues of the classical Delaunay cylinders. More precisely, we show the existence of a set in $\mathbb{R}^n$ which is periodic in one direction, has a prescribed (but arbitrary) volume within a slab orthogonal to that direction, has constant nonlocal mean curvature, and minimizes an appropriate periodic version of the fractional perimeter functional under the volume constraint. We show, in addition, that the set is cylindrically symmetric and, more significantly, that it is even as well as nonincreasing on half its period. This monotonicity property solves an open problem and an obstruction which arose in an earlier attempt, by other authors, to show the existence of minimizers.