Recurrent traveling waves in a two-dimensional saw-toothed cylinder and their average speed

We study a curvature-dependent motion of plane curves in a two-dimensional infinite cylinder with spatially undulating boundary. The law of motion is given by V=κ+AV=κ+A, where V is the normal velocity of the curve, κ is the curvature, and A is a positive constant. The boundary undulation is assumed to be almost periodic, or, more generally, recurrent in a certain sense. We first introduce the definition of recurrent traveling waves and establish a necessary and sufficient condition for the existence of such traveling waves. We then show that the traveling wave is asymptotically stable if it exists. Next we show that a regular traveling wave has a well-defined average speed if the boundary shape is strictly ergodic. Finally we study what we call “virtual pinning”, which means that the traveling wave propagates over the entire cylinder with zero average speed. Such a peculiar situation can occur only in non-periodic environments and never occurs if the boundary undulation is periodic.