Frank (LMU Munich): The liquid drop model

The liquid drop model was originally introduced in the nuclear physics literature in 1930 and has recently been studied extensively using techniques from the calculus of variations, geometric analysis, PDE and mathematical physics. The talk will discuss some new results and open problems concerning a certain isoperimetric-type question in this model. In addition, we present a first rigorous analysis of a nuclear pasta phase encountered in astrophysics.