We consider a free boundary problem on three-dimensional cones depending on a parameter c and study when the free boundary is allowed to pass through the vertex of the cone. Combining analysis and computer-assisted proof, we show that when c is less than 0.43, the free boundary may pass through the vertex of the cone.
We consider a free boundary problem on cones depending on a parameter c and study when the free boundary is allowed to pass through the vertex of the cone. We show that when the cone is three-dimensional and c is large enough, the free boundary avoids the vertex. We also show that when c is small enough but still positive, the free boundary is allowed to pass through the vertex. This establishes 3 as the critical dimension for which the free boundary may pass through the vertex of a right circular cone. In view of the well-known connection between area-minimizing surfaces and the free boundary problem under consideration, our result is analogous to a result of Morgan that classifies when an area-minimizing surface on a cone passes through the vertex.
Given a global 1-homogeneous minimizer $U_0$ to the Alt-Caffarelli energy functional, with $sing(F(U_0)) = {0}$, we provide a foliation of the half-space $R^{n} times [0,+infty)$ with dilations of graphs of global minimizers $underline U leq U_0 leq bar U$ with analytic free boundaries at distance 1 from the origin.
We are interested in numerical algorithms for computing the electrical field generated by a charge distribution localized on scale $ell$ in an infinite heterogeneous medium, in a situation where the medium is only known in a box of diameter $Lggell$ around the support of the charge. We propose a boundary condition that with overwhelming probability is (near) optimal with respect to scaling in terms of $ell$ and $L$, in the setting where the medium is a sample from a stationary ensemble with a finite range of dependence (set to be unity and with the assumption that $ell gg 1$). The boundary condition is motivated by quantitative stochastic homogenization that allows for a multipole expansion [BGO20]. This work extends [LO21] from two to three dimensions, and thus we need to take quadrupoles, next to dipoles, into account. This in turn relies on stochastic estimates of second-order, next to first-order, correctors. These estimates are provided for finite range ensembles under consideration, based on an extension of the semi-group approach of [GO15].
The Oxygen Depletion problem is an implicit free boundary value problem. The dynamics allow topological changes in the free boundary. We show several mathematical formulations of this model from the literature and give a new formulation based on a gradient flow with constraint. All formulations are shown to be equivalent. We explore the possibilities for the numerical approximation of the problem that arise from the different formulations. We show a convergence result for an approximation based on the gradient flow with constraint formulation that applies to the general dynamics including topological changes. More general (vector, higher order) implicit free boundary value problems are discussed. Several open problems are described.
We study a commonly-used second-kind boundary-integral equation for solving the Helmholtz exterior Neumann problem at high frequency, where, writing $Gamma$ for the boundary of the obstacle, the relevant integral operators map $L^2(Gamma)$ to itself. We prove new frequency-explicit bounds on the norms of both the integral operator and its inverse. The bounds on the norm are valid for piecewise-smooth $Gamma$ and are sharp, and the bounds on the norm of the inverse are valid for smooth $Gamma$ and are observed to be sharp at least when $Gamma$ is curved. Together, these results give bounds on the condition number of the operator on $L^2(Gamma)$; this is the first time $L^2(Gamma)$ condition-number bounds have been proved for this operator for obstacles other than balls.