A Topological Property of Asymptotically Conical Self-Shrinkers of Small Entropy

For any asymptotically conical self-shrinker with entropy less than or equal to that of a cylinder we show that the link of the asymptotic cone must separate the unit sphere into exactly two connected components, both diffeomorphic to the self-shrinker. Combining this with recent work of Brendle, we conclude that the round sphere uniquely minimizes the entropy among all non-flat two-dimensional self-shrinkers. This confirms a conjecture of Colding-Ilmanen-Minicozzi-White in dimension two.