Gamma-convergence of nonlocal energies for partitions

Abstract

We prove that certain nonlocal functionals defined on partitions made of measurable sets Gamma-converge to a local functional modeled on the perimeter in the sense of De Giorgi. Those nonlocal functionals involve generalized surface tension coefficients, and are lower semicontinuous even if the coefficients do not satisfy the triangular inequality. It implies a relaxation process in the limit, and provides a novel effect compare to the known gamma-convergence of the fractional perimeter towards the standard perimeter.