Shape optimization for low Neumann and Steklov eigenvalues

TL;DR

This paper reviews shape optimization results for low Laplacian eigenvalues on planar domains with Neumann and Steklov boundary conditions, emphasizing complex analysis methods and extending classical inequalities.

Contribution

It modernizes proofs of classical inequalities and extends bounds for the second nonzero eigenvalues to non-homogeneous membranes with densities.

Findings

The maximum of the second nonzero Neumann eigenvalue is not attained in simply-connected membranes of fixed mass.

The same non-attainability result holds for the second nonzero Steklov eigenvalue.

Classical inequalities by Szego and Weinstock are revisited with modern proofs.

Abstract

We give an overview of results on shape optimization for low eigenvalues of the Laplacian on bounded planar domains with Neumann and Steklov boundary conditions. These results share a common feature: they are proved using methods of complex analysis. In particular, we present modernized proofs of the classical inequalities due to Szego and Weinstock for the first nonzero Neumann and Steklov eigenvalues. We also extend the inequality for the second nonzero Neumann eigenvalue, obtained recently by Nadirashvili and the authors, to non-homogeneous membranes with log-subharmonic densities. In the homogeneous case, we show that this inequality is strict, which implies that the maximum of the second nonzero Neumann eigenvalue is not attained in the class of simply-connected membranes of a given mass. The same is true for the second nonzero Steklov eigenvalue, as follows from our results on the Hersch-Payne-Schiffer inequalities.