arXiv subjects
Publications and source records attributed to Giulio Ciraolo.
We study some overdetermined problems for possibly anisotropic degenerate elliptic PDEs, including the well-known Serrin's overdetermined problem, and we prove the corresponding Wulff shape characterizations by using some integral identities and just one pointwise inequality. Our techniques provide a somehow unified approach to this variety of problems.
We consider an overdetermined Serrin's type problem in space forms and we generalize Weinberger's proof in [Arch. Rational Mech. Anal., 43 (1971)] by introducing a suitable P-function.
We prove a quantitative structure theorem for metrics on $\mathbf{R}^n$ that are conformal to the flat metric, have almost constant positive scalar curvature, and cannot concentrate more than one bubble. As an application of our result, we show a quantitative rate of convergence in relative entropy for a fast diffusion equation in $\mathbf{R}^n$ related to the Yamabe flow.
We consider an overdetermined problem for the Finsler Laplacian in the exterior of a convex domain in $\mathbb{R}^N$, establishing a symmetry result for the anisotropic capacitary potential. Our result extends the one of W. Reichel [Arch. Rational Mech. Anal. 137 (1997)], where the usual Newtonian capacity is considered, giving rise to an overdetermined problem for the standard Laplace equation. Here, we replace the usual Euclidean norm of the gradient with an arbitrary norm $H$. The resulting symmetry of the solution is that of the so-called Wulff shape (a ball in the dual norm $H_0$).
We prove the following quantitative version of the celebrated Soap Bubble Theorem of Alexandrov. Let $S$ be a $C^2$ closed embedded hypersurface of $\mathbb{R}^{n+1}$, $n\geq1$, and denote by $osc(H)$ the oscillation of its mean curvature. We prove that there exists a positive $\varepsilon$, depending on $n$ and upper bounds on the area and the $C^2$-regularity of $S$, such that if $osc(H) \leq \varepsilon$ then there exist two concentric balls $B_{r_i}$ and $B_{r_e}$ such that $S \subset \overline{B}_{r_e} \setminus B_{r_i}$ and $r_e -r_i \leq C \, osc(H)$, with $C$ depending only on $n$ and upper bounds on the surface area of $S$ and the $C^2$ regularity of $S$. Our approach is based on a quantitative study of the method of moving planes and the quantitative estimate on $r_e-r_i$ we obtain is optimal. As a consequence of this theorem, we also prove that if $osc(H)$ is small then $S$ is diffeomorphic to a sphere and give a quantitative bound which implies that $S$ is $C^1$-close to a sphere.
We consider an overdetermined problem arising in potential theory for the capacitary potential and we prove a radial symmetry result.
Let $(M,g)$ be a Riemannian manifold with a distinguished point $O$ and assume that the geodesic distance $d$ from $O$ is an isoparametric function. Let $Ω\subset M$ be a bounded domain, with $O \in Ω$, and consider the problem $Δ_p u = -1$ in $Ω$ with $u=0$ on $\partial Ω$, where $Δ_p$ is the $p$-Laplacian of $g$. We prove that if the normal derivative $\partial_νu$ of $u$ along the boundary of $Ω$ is a function of $d$ satisfying suitable conditions, then $Ω$ must be a geodesic ball. In particular, our result applies to open balls of $\mathbb{R}^n$ equipped with a rotationally symmetric metric of the form $g=dt^2+ρ^2(t)\,g_S$, where $g_S$ is the standard metric of the sphere.
We consider a class of overdetermined problems in rotationally symmetric spaces, which reduce to the classical Serrin's overdetermined problem in the case of the Euclidean space. We prove some general integral identities for rotationally symmetric spaces which imply a rigidity result in the case of the round sphere.
In a bounded domain $Ω$, we consider a positive solution of the problem $Δu+f(u)=0$ in $Ω$, $u=0$ on $\partialΩ$, where $f:\mathbb{R}\to\mathbb{R}$ is a locally Lipschitz continuous function. Under sufficient conditions on $Ω$ (for instance, if $Ω$ is convex), we show that $\partialΩ$ is contained in a spherical annulus of radii $r_i 0$ and $α\in (0,1]$. Here, $[u_ν]_{\partialΩ}$ is the Lipschitz seminorm on $\partialΩ$ of the normal derivative of $u$. This result improves to Hölder stability the logarithmic estimate obtained in [1] for Serrin's overdetermined problem. It also extends to a large class of semilinear equations the Hölder estimate obtained in [6] for the case of torsional rigidity ($f\equiv 1$) by means of integral identities. The proof hinges on ideas contained in [1] and uses Carleson-type estimates and improved Harnack inequalities in cones.
We consider the solution of the problem $$ -Δu=f(u) \ \mbox{ and } \ u>0 \ \ \mbox{ in } \ Ω, \ \ u=0 \ \mbox{ on } \ Γ, $$ where $Ω$ is a bounded domain in $\mathbb{R}^N$ with boundary $Γ$ of class $C^{2,τ}$, $0<τ<1$, and $f$ is a locally Lipschitz continuous non-linearity. Serrin's celebrated symmetry theorem states that, if the normal derivative $u_ν$ is constant on $Γ$, then $Ω$ must be a ball. In [CMS2], it has been conjectured that Serrin's theorem may be obtained by stability in the following way: first, for a solution $u$ prove the estimate $$ r_e-r_i\le C_δ\,[u]_{Γ^δ} $$ for some constant $C_δ$ depending on $δ>0$, where $r_e$ and $r_i$ are the radii of a spherical annulus containing $Γ$, $Γ^δ$ is a surface parallel to $Γ$ at distance $δ$ and sufficiently close to $Γ$, and $[u]_{Γ^δ}$ is the Lipschitz semi-norm of $u$ on $Γ^δ$; secondly, if in addition $u_ν$ is constant on $Γ$, show that $$ [u]_{Γ^δ}=o(C_δ)\ \mbox{ as } \ δ\to 0^+. $$ In this paper, we prove that this strategy is successful. As a by-product of this method, for $C^{2,τ}$-regular domains, we also obtain a linear stability estimate for Serrin's symmetry result. Our result is optimal and greatly improves the similar logarithmic-type estimate of [ABR] and the Hölder estimate of [CMV] that was restricted to convex domains.
The distance of an almost constant mean curvature boundary from a finite family of disjoint tangent balls with equal radii is quantitatively controlled in terms of the oscillation of the scalar mean curvature. This result allows one to quantitatively describe the geometry of volume-constrained stationary sets in capillarity problems.
We prove that the boundary of a (not necessarily connected) bounded smooth set with constant nonlocal mean curvature is a sphere. More generally, and in contrast with what happens in the classical case, we show that the Lipschitz constant of the nonlocal mean curvature of such a boundary controls its $C^2$-distance from a single sphere. The corresponding stability inequality is obtained with a sharp decay rate.
We consider a constrained optimization problem arising from the study of the Helmholtz equation in unbounded domains. The optimization problem provides an approximation of the solution in a bounded computational domain. In this paper we prove some estimates on the rate of convergence to the exact solution.
We consider the functional $$I_Ω(v) = \int_Ω[f(|Dv|) - v] dx,$$ where $Ω$ is a bounded domain and $f$ is a convex function. Under general assumptions on $f$, G. Crasta [Cr1] has shown that if $I_Ω$ admits a minimizer in $W_0^{1,1}(Ω)$ depending only on the distance from the boundary of $Ω$, then $Ω$ must be a ball. With some restrictions on $f$, we prove that spherical symmetry can be obtained only by assuming that the minimizer has one level surface parallel to the boundary (i.e. it has only a level surface in common with the distance). We then discuss how these results extend to more general settings, in particular to functionals that are not differentiable and to solutions of fully nonlinear elliptic and parabolic equations.
We study some convergence issues for a recent approach to the problem of transparent boundary conditions for the Helmholtz equation in unbounded domains. The approach is based on the minimization on an integral functional which arises from an integral formulation of the radiation condition at infinity. In this Letter, we implement a Fourier-Chebyschev collocation method and show that this approach reduce the computational cost significantly. As a consequence, we give numerical evidence of some convergence estimates available in literature and we study the robustness of the algorithm at low and mid-high frequencies.
We consider the solution of the torsion problem $-Δu=1$ in $Ω$ and $u=0$ on $\partial Ω$. Serrin's celebrated symmetry theorem states that, if the normal derivative $u_ν$ is constant on $\partial Ω$, then $Ω$ must be a ball. In a recent paper, it has been conjectured that Serrin's theorem may be obtained {\it by stability} in the following way: first, for the solution $u$ of the torsion problem prove the estimate $$ r_e-r_i\leq C_t\,\Bigl(\max_{Γ_t} u-\min_{Γ_t} u\Bigr) $$ for some constant $C_t$ depending on $t$, where $r_e$ and $r_i$ are the radii of an annulus containing $\partialΩ$ and $Γ_t$ is a surface parallel to $\partialΩ$ at distance $t$ and sufficiently close to $\partialΩ$; secondly, if in addition $u_ν$ is constant on $\partialΩ$, show that $$ \max_{Γ_t} u-\min_{Γ_t} u=o(C_t)\ \mbox{as} \ t\to 0^+. $$ In this paper, we analyse a simple case study and show that the scheme is successful if the admissible domains $Ω$ are ellipses.
Positive solutions of homogeneous Dirichlet boundary value problems or initial-value problems for certain elliptic or parabolic equations must be radially symmetric and monotone in the radial direction if just one of their level surfaces is parallel to the boundary of the domain. Here, for the elliptic case, we prove the stability counterpart of that result. In fact, we show that if the solution is almost constant on a surface at a fixed distance from the boundary, then the domain is almost radially symmetric, in the sense that is contained in and contains two concentric balls $B_{r_e}$ and $B_{r_i}$, with the difference $r_e-r_i$ (linearly) controlled by a suitable norm of the deviation of the solution from a constant. The proof relies on and enhances arguments developed in a paper by Aftalion, Busca and Reichel.
If a body of dielectric material is coated by a plasmonic structure of negative dielectric material with nonzero loss parameter, then cloaking by anomalous localized resonance (CALR) may occur as the loss parameter tends to zero. It was proved in other papers by authors that if the coated structure is circular (2D) and dielectric constant of the shell is a negative constant (with loss parameter), then CALR occurs, and if the coated structure is spherical (3D), then CALR does not occur. The aim of this paper is to show that the CALR takes place if the spherical coated structure has a specially designed anisotropic dielectric tensor. The anisotropic dielectric tensor is designed by unfolding a folded geometry.