On Laplacian eigenvalue equation with constant Neumann boundary data

Abstract

Let \(\Omega\) be a bounded Lipshcitz domain in \(\mathbb{R}^n\) and we study boundary behaviors of solutions to the Laplacian eigenvalue equation with constant Neumann data. \begin{align} \label{cequation0} \begin{cases} -\Delta u=cu\quad &\mbox{in \(\Omega\)}\\ \frac{\partial u}{\partial \nu}=-1\quad &\mbox{on \(\partial \Omega\)}. \end{cases} \end{align}First, by using properties of Bessel functions and proving new inequalities on elementary symmetric polynomials, we obtain the following inequality for rectangular boxes, balls and equilateral triangles: \begin{align} \label{bbb} \lim_{c\rightarrow \mu_2^-}c\int_{\partial \Omega}u_c\, d\sigma\ge \frac{n-1}{n}\frac{P^2(\Omega)}{|\Omega|}, \end{align}with equality achieved only at cubes and balls. In the above, \(u_c\) is the solution to the eigenvalue equation and \(\mu_2\) is the second Neumann Laplacian eigenvalue. Second, let \(\kappa_1\) be the best constant for the Poincar\'e inequality with mean zero on \(\partial \Omega\), and we prove that \(\kappa_1\le \mu_2\), with equality holds if and only if \(\int_{\partial \Omega}u_c\, d\sigma>0\) for any \(c\in (0,\mu_2)\). As a consequence, \(\kappa_1=\mu_2\) on balls, rectangular boxes and equilateral triangles, and balls maximize \(\kappa_1\) over all Lipschitz domains with fixed volume. As an application, we extend the symmetry breaking results from ball domains obtained in Bucur-Buttazzo-Nitsch[J. Math. Pures Appl., 2017], to wider class of domains, and give quantitative estimates for the precise breaking threshold at balls and rectangular boxes. It is a direct consequence that for domains with \(\kappa_1<\mu_2\), the above boundary limit inequality is never true, while whether it is valid for domains on which \(\kappa_1=\mu_2\) remains open.