%0 Journal Article %J Annales de l'Institut Henri Poincare (C) Non Linear Analysis %D 2014 %T Existence of immersed spheres minimizing curvature functionals in non-compact 3-manifolds %A Andrea Mondino %A Johannes Schygulla %K Direct methods in the calculus of variations %K General Relativity %K Geometric measure theory %K second fundamental form %K Willmore functional %X

We study curvature functionals for immersed 2-spheres in non-compact, three-dimensional Riemannian manifold $(M,h)$ without boundary. First, under the assumption that $(M,h)$ is the euclidean 3-space endowed with a semi-perturbed metric with perturbation small in $C^1$ norm and of compact support, we prove that if there is some point $\bar{x}\in M$ with scalar curvature $R^M(\bar{x})>0$ then there exists a smooth embedding $ f:\mathbb{S}^2 \hookrightarrow M$ minimizing the Willmore functional $\frac{1}{4}\int |H|^2$, where $H$ is the mean curvature. Second, assuming that $(M,h)$ is of bounded geometry (i.e. bounded sectional curvature and strictly positive injectivity radius) and asymptotically euclidean or hyperbolic we prove that if there is some point $\bar{x}\in M$ with scalar curvature $R^M(\bar{x})>6$ then there exists a smooth immersion $f:\mathbb{S}^2\hookrightarrow M$ minimizing the functional $\int (\frac{1}{2}|A|^2+1)$, where $A$ is the second fundamental form. Finally, adding the bound $K^M \leq 2$ to the last assumptions, we obtain a smooth minimizer $f:\mathbb{S}^2 \hookrightarrow M$ for the functional $\int \frac{1}{4}(|H|^2+1)$. The assumptions of the last two theorems are satisfied in a large class of 3-manifolds arising as spacelike timeslices solutions of the Einstein vacuum equation in case of null or negative cosmological constant.

%B Annales de l'Institut Henri Poincare (C) Non Linear Analysis %V 31 %P 707 - 724 %G eng %U http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0294144913000851 %R https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anihpc.2013.07.002