Arnold-Thom gradient conjecture for the arrival time

Abstract

We prove conjectures of Rene Thom and Vladimir Arnold for C^2 solutions to the degenerate elliptic equation that is the level set equation for motion by mean curvature. We believe these results are the first instances of a general principle: Solutions of many degenerate equations behave as if they are analytic, even when they are not. If so, this would explain various conjectured phenomena.