ON THE EXISTENCE OF MASS MINIMIZING RECTIFIABLE G CHAINS IN FINITE DIMENSIONAL NORMED SPACES

We introduce the notion of density contractor of dimension m in a finite dimensional normed space X. If m + 1 = dim X, this includes the area contracting projectors on hyperplanes whose existence was established by H. Busemann. If m = 2, density contractors are an ersatz for such projectors and their existence, established here, follows from works by D. Burago and S. Ivanov. Once density contractors are available, the corresponding Plateau problem admits a solution among rectifiable G chains, regardless of the group of coefficients G. This is obtained as a consequence of the lower semicontinuity of the m dimensional Hausdorff mass, of which we offer two proofs. One of these is based on a new type of integral geometric measure.