A curvature flow that deforms curves to an embedded target

Abstract

In this paper we introduce the target flow -- a specific curve shortening flow with an ambient forcing term -- that, given an embedded (not necessarily convex) target curve, will attempt to evolve a given source curve to that target. The motivation for this flow is to address a question of Yau. Our main result is that the target flow with uniformly normal graphical data converges smoothly to the target, broadening the class of known sources and targets such that Yau's problem has a solution.