Global and local energy minimizers for a nanowire growth model

Abstract

We consider a model for vapor–liquid–solid growth of nanowires proposed in the physical literature. Liquid drops are described as local or global volume-constrained minimizers of the capillarity energy outside a semi-infinite convex obstacle modeling the nanowire. We first address the existence of global minimizers and then, in the case of rotationally symmetric nanowires, we investigate how the presence of a sharp edge affects the shape of local minimizers and the validity of Young’s law.