Image segmentation with a finite element method

The Mumford-Shah functional for image segmentation is an original approach of the image segmentation problem, based on a minimal energy criterion. Its minimization can be seen as a free discontinuity problem and is based on Gamma-convergence and bounded variation functions theories. Some new regularization results, make possible to imagine a finite element resolution method. In a first time, the Mumford-Shah functional is introduced and some existing results are quoted. Then, a discrete formulation for the Mumford-Shah problem is proposed and its Gamma-convergence is proved. Finally, some numerical results, computed from both artificial and real images are presented and discussed.