Quantitative isoperimetric inequalities for classical capillarity problems

Abstract We consider capillarity functionals which measure the perimeter of sets contained in a Euclidean half-space assigning a constant weight $$\lambda \in (-1,1)$$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi>λ</mml:mi> <mml:mo>∈</mml:mo> <mml:mo>(</mml:mo> <mml:mo>-</mml:mo> <mml:mn>1</mml:mn> <mml:mo>,</mml:mo> <mml:mn>1</mml:mn> <mml:mo>)</mml:mo> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> to the portion of the boundary that touches the boundary of the half-space. Depending on $$\lambda $$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:mi>λ</mml:mi> </mml:math> , sets that minimize this capillarity perimeter among those with fixed volume are known to be suitable truncated balls lying on the boundary of the half-space. We first give a new proof based on an ABP-type technique of the sharp isoperimetric inequality for this class of capillarity problems. Next we prove two quantitative versions of the inequality: a first sharp inequality estimates the Fraenkel asymmetry of a competitor with respect to the optimal bubbles in terms of the energy deficit; a second inequality estimates a notion of asymmetry for the part of the boundary of a competitor that touches the boundary of the half-space in terms of the energy deficit. After a symmetrization procedure, the quantitative inequalities follow from a novel combination of a quantitative ABP method with a selection-type argument.