The Parametric Willmore Flow

Abstract

We establish a minimal positive existence time of the parametric Willmore flow for any smooth initial data (smooth immersion of a closed oriented surface). The minimal existence time is a function exclusively of geometric data which in particular are all well defined for general weak lipschitz $W^{2,2}$ immersions. This fact combined with the conservation law formulation of the equation given by the first author in 2008 opens the possibility for defining the Willmore flow for weak lipschitz $W^{2,2}$ initial data.