A strict inequality for the minimisation of the Willmore functional under isoperimetric constraint

Abstract

Inspired by previous work of Kusner and Bauer-Kuwert, we prove a strict inequality between the Willmore energies of two surfaces and their connected sum in the context of isoperimetric constraints. Building on previous work by Keller-Mondino-Rivière, our strict inequality leads to existence of minimisers for the isoperimetric constrained Willmore problem in every genus, provided the minimal energy lies strictly below $8\pi$. Besides the geometric interest, such a minimisation problem has been studied in the literature as a simplified model in the theory of lipid bilayer cell membranes.

16 pages. Final version to appear in Advances in Calculus of Variations