Searcharxiv⌕ Search

arXiv subjects

Pedro Freitas

Publications and source records attributed to Pedro Freitas.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

From Steklov to Neumann and beyond, via Robin: the Szegő way

The second eigenvalue of the Robin Laplacian is shown to be maximal for the disk among simply-connected planar domains of fixed area when the Robin parameter is scaled by perimeter in the form $α/L(Ω)$, and $α$ lies between $-2π$ and $2π$. Corollaries include Szegő's sharp upper bound on the second eigenvalue of the Neumann Laplacian under area normalization, and Weinstock's inequality for the first nonzero Steklov eigenvalue for simply-connected domains of given perimeter. The first Robin eigenvalue is maximal, under the same conditions, for the degenerate rectangle. When area normalization on the domain is changed to conformal mapping normalization and the Robin parameter is positive, the maximiser of the first eigenvalue changes back to the disk.

math.SP↗

From Neumann to Steklov and beyond, via Robin: the Weinberger way

The second eigenvalue of the Robin Laplacian is shown to be maximal for the ball among domains of fixed volume, for negative values of the Robin parameter $α$ in the regime connecting the first nontrivial Neumann and Steklov eigenvalues, and even somewhat beyond the Steklov regime. The result is close to optimal, since the ball is not maximal when $α$ is sufficiently large negative, and the problem admits no maximiser when $α$ is positive.

math.SP↗

Extremal domains and Pólya-type inequalities for the Robin Laplacian on rectangles and unions of rectangles

We show that eigenvalues of the Robin Laplacian with a positive boundary parameter $α$ on rectangles and unions of rectangtes satisfy Pólya-type inequalities, albeit with an exponent smaller than that of the corresponding Weyl asympotics for a fixed domain. We determine the optimal exponents in either case, showing that they are different in the two situations. Our approach to proving these results includes a characterisation of the corresponding extremal domains for the $k$th eigenvalue in regions of the $(k,α)$-plane.

math.AP↗

The damped wave equation with unbounded damping

We analyze new phenomena arising in linear damped wave equations on unbounded domains when the damping is allowed to become unbounded at infinity. We prove the generation of a contraction semigroup, study the relation between the spectra of the semigroup generator and the associated quadratic operator function, the convergence of non-real eigenvalues in the asymptotic regime of diverging damping on a subdomain, and we investigate the appearance of essential spectrum on the negative real axis. We further show that the presence of the latter prevents exponential estimates for the semigroup and turns out to be a robust effect that cannot be easily canceled by adding a positive potential. These analytic results are illustrated by examples.

math.SP↗

Eigenvalue asymptotics for the damped wave equation on metric graphs

We consider the linear damped wave equation on finite metric graphs and analyse its spectral properties with an emphasis on the asymptotic behaviour of eigenvalues. In the case of equilateral graphs and standard coupling conditions we show that there is only a finite number of high-frequency abscissas, whose location is solely determined by the averages of the damping terms on each edge. We further describe some of the possible behaviour when the edge lengths are no longer necessarily equal but remain commensurate.

math-ph↗

Bounds and extremal domains for Robin eigenvalues with negative boundary parameter

We present some new bounds for the first Robin eigenvalue with a negative boundary parameter. These include the constant volume problem, where the bounds are based on the shrinking coordinate method, and a proof that in the fixed perimeter case the disk maximises the first eigenvalue for all values of the parameter. This is in contrast with what happens in the constant area problem, where the disk is the maximiser only for small values of the boundary parameter. We also present sharp upper and lower bounds for the first eigenvalue of the ball and spherical shells. These results are complemented by the numerical optimisation of the first four and two eigenvalues in 2 and 3 dimensions, respectively, and an evaluation of the quality of the upper bounds obtained. We also study the bifurcations from the ball as the boundary parameter becomes large (negative).

math.SP↗

The spectrum of geodesic balls on spherically symmetric manifolds

We study the Dirichlet spectrum of the Laplace operator on geodesic balls centred at a pole of spherically symmetric manifolds. We first derive a Hadamard--type formula for the dependence of the first eigenvalue $λ_{1}$ on the radius $r$ of the ball, which allows us to obtain lower and upper bounds for $λ_{1}$ in specific cases. For the sphere and hyperbolic space, these bounds are asymptotically sharp as $r$ approaches zero and we see that while in two dimensions $λ_{1}$ is bounded from above by the first two terms in the asymptotics for small $r$, for dimensions four and higher the reverse inequality holds. In the general case we derive the asymptotic expansion of $λ_{1}$ for small radius and determine the first three terms explicitly. For compact manifolds we carry out similar calculations as the radius of the geodesic ball approaches the diameter of the manifold. In the latter case we show that in even dimensions there will always exist logarithmic terms in these expansions.

math.AP↗

A lower bound to the spectral threshold in curved quantum layers

We derive a lower bound to the spectral threshold of the Dirichlet Laplacian in tubular neighbourhoods of constant radius about complete surfaces. This lower bound is given by the lowest eigenvalue of a one-dimensional operator depending on the radius and principal curvatures of the reference surface. Moreover, we show that it is optimal if the reference surface is non-negatively curved.

math-ph↗

Alexandrov's isodiametric conjecture and the cut locus of a surface

We prove that Alexandrov's conjecture relating the area and diameter of a convex surface holds for the surface of a general ellipsoid. This is a direct consequence of a more general result which estimates the deviation from the optimal conjectured bound in terms of the length of the cut locus of a point on the surface. We also prove that the natural extension of the conjecture to general dimension holds among closed convex spherically symmetric Riemannian manifolds. Our results are based on a new symmetrization procedure which we believe to be interesting in its own right.

math.DG↗

The first Robin eigenvalue with negative boundary parameter

We give a counterexample to the long standing conjecture that the ball maximises the first eigenvalue of the Robin eigenvalue problem with negative parameter among domains of the same volume. Furthermore, we show that the conjecture holds in two dimensions provided that the boundary parameter is small. This is the first known example within the class of isoperimetric spectral problems for the first eigenvalue of the Laplacian where the ball is not an optimiser.

math.SP↗

On the spectrum of deformations of compact double-sided flat hypersurfaces

We study the asymptotic behaviour of the eigenvalues of the Laplace-Beltrami operator on a compact hypersurface in \mathds{R}^{n+1} as it is flattened into a singular double-sided flat hypersurface. We show that the limit spectral problem corresponds to the Dirichlet and Neumann problems on one side of this flat (Euclidean) limit, and derive an explicit three-term asymptotic expansion for the eigenvalues where the remaining two terms are of orders \varepsilon^2\log\varepsilon and \varepsilon^2.

math.AP↗

Asymptotic behaviour and numerical approximation of optimal eigenvalues of the Robin Laplacian

We consider the problem of minimising the $n^{th}-$eigenvalue of the Robin Laplacian in $\mathbb{R}^{N}$. Although for $n=1,2$ and a positive boundary parameter $α$ it is known that the minimisers do not depend on $α$, we demonstrate numerically that this will not always be the case and illustrate how the optimiser will depend on $α$. We derive a Wolf-Keller type result for this problem and show that optimal eigenvalues grow at most with $n^{1/N}$, which is in sharp contrast with the Weyl asymptotics for a fixed domain. We further show that the gap between consecutive eigenvalues does go to zero as $n$ goes to infinity. Numerical results then support the conjecture that for each $n$ there exists a positive value of $α_{n}$ such that the $n^{\rm th}$ eigenvalue is minimised by $n$ disks for all $0<α<α_{n}$ and, combined with analytic estimates, that this value is expected to grow with $n^{1/N}$.

math.SP↗

Asymptotics for the expected lifetime of Brownian motion on thin domains in R^n

We derive a three-term asymptotic expansion for the expected lifetime of Brownian motion and for the torsional rigidity on thin domains in R^n, and a two-term expansion for the maximum (and corresponding maximizer) of the expected lifetime. The approach is similar to that which we used previously to study the eigenvalues of the Dirichlet Laplacian and consists of scaling the domain in one direction and deriving the corresponding asymptotic expansions as the scaling parameter goes to zero. Apart from being dominated by the one-dimensional Brownian motion along the direction of the scaling, we also see that the symmetry of the perturbation plays a role in the expansion. As in the case of eigenvalues, these expansions may also be used to approximate the exit time for domains where the scaling parameter is not necessarilly close to zero.

math.AP↗

A Spectral Bernstein Theorem

We study the spectrum of the Laplace operator of a complete minimal properly immersed hypersurface $M$ in $\R^{n+1}$. (1) Under a volume growth condition on extrinsic balls and a condition on the unit normal at infinity, we prove that $M$ has only essential spectrum consisting of the half line $[0, +\infty)$. This is the case when $\lim_{\tilde{r}\to +\infty}\tilde{r}κ_i=0$, where $\tilde{r}$ is the extrinsic distance to a point of $M$ and $κ_i$ are the principal curvatures. (2) If the $κ_i$ satisfy the decay conditions $|κ_i|\leq 1/\tilde{r}$, and strict inequality is achieved at some point $y\in M$, then there are no eigenvalues. We apply these results to minimal graphic and multigraphic hypersurfaces.

math.DG↗

Asymptotics of Dirichlet eigenvalues and eigenfunctions of the Laplacian on thin domains in R^d

We consider the Laplace operator with Dirichlet boundary conditions on a domain in R^d and study the effect that performing a scaling in one direction has on the eigenvalues and corresponding eigenfunctions as a function of the scaling parameter around zero. This generalizes our previous results in two dimensions and, as in that case, allows us to obtain an approximation for Dirichlet eigenvalues for a large class of domains, under very mild assumptions. As an application, we derive a three--term asymptotic expansion for the first eigenvalue of d-dimensional ellipsoids.

math.AP↗