Anisotropic motion by mean curvature in the context of Finsler geometry

We study the anisotropic motion of a hypersurface in the context of the geometry of Finsler spaces. This amounts in considering the evolution in relative geometry, where all quantities are referred to the given Finsler metric π representing the anisotropy, which we allow to be a function of space. Assuming that π is strictly convex and smooth, we prove that the natural evolution law is of the form “velocity = Hπ”, where Hπ is the relative mean curvature vector of the hypersurface. We derive this evolution law using different approches, such as the variational method of Almgren-Taylor-Wang, the Hamilton-Jacobi equation, and the approximation by means of a reaction-diffusion equation. © 1996 by the University of Notre Dame. All rights reserved.