English

The Gaussian Double-Bubble and Multi-Bubble Conjectures

Differential Geometry 2021-12-02 v3 Functional Analysis Probability

Abstract

We establish the Gaussian Multi-Bubble Conjecture: the least Gaussian-weighted perimeter way to decompose Rn\mathbb{R}^n into qq cells of prescribed (positive) Gaussian measure when 2qn+12 \leq q \leq n+1, is to use a "simplicial cluster", obtained from the Voronoi cells of qq equidistant points. Moreover, we prove that simplicial clusters are the unique isoperimetric minimizers (up to null-sets). In particular, the case q=3q=3 confirms the Gaussian Double-Bubble Conjecture: the unique least Gaussian-weighted perimeter way to decompose Rn\mathbb{R}^n (n2n \geq 2) into three cells of prescribed (positive) Gaussian measure is to use a tripod-cluster, whose interfaces consist of three half-hyperplanes meeting along an (n2)(n-2)-dimensional plane at 120120^{\circ} angles (forming a tripod or "Y" shape in the plane). The case q=2q=2 recovers the classical Gaussian isoperimetric inequality. To establish the Multi-Bubble conjecture, we show that in the above range of qq, stable regular clusters must have flat interfaces, therefore consisting of convex polyhedral cells (with at most q1q-1 facets). In the Double-Bubble case q=3q=3, it is possible to avoid establishing flatness of the interfaces by invoking a certain dichotomy on the structure of stable clusters, yielding a simplified argument.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1805.10961,
  title  = {The Gaussian Double-Bubble and Multi-Bubble Conjectures},
  author = {Emanuel Milman and Joe Neeman},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1805.10961},
  year   = {2021}
}

Comments

89 pages; merged with our prior Double-Bubble manuscript arXiv:1801.09296v1 and now supersedes it. Corrected typos, updated references and exported some remarks. Final version, to appear in Annals of Mathematics

R2 v1 2026-06-23T02:10:36.449Z