Sloshing, Steklov and corners: Asymptotics of Steklov eigenvalues for curvilinear polygons

We obtain asymptotic formulae for the Steklov eigenvalues and eigenfunctions of curvilinear polygons in terms of their side lengths and angles. These formulae are quite precise: the errors tend to zero as the spectral parameter tends to infinity. The Steklov problem on planar domains with corners is closely linked to the classical sloshing and sloping beach problems in hydrodynamics; as we show it is also related to quantum graphs. Somewhat surprisingly, the arithmetic properties of the angles of a curvilinear polygon have a significant effect on the boundary behaviour of the Steklov eigenfunctions. Our proofs are based on an explicit construction of quasimodes. We use a variety of methods, including ideas from spectral geometry, layer potential analysis, and some new techniques tailored to our problem.

Sloshing, Steklov and corners: Asymptotics of sloshing eigenvalues

In the present paper we develop an approach to obtain sharp spectral asymptotics for Steklov type problems on planar domains with corners. Our main focus is on the two-dimensional sloshing problem, which is a mixed Steklov-Neumann boundary value problem describing small vertical oscillations of an ideal fluid in a container or in a canal with a uniform cross-section. We prove a two-term asymptotic formula for sloshing eigenvalues. In particular, this confirms a conjecture posed by Fox and Kuttler in 1983. We also obtain similar eigenvalue asymptotics for other related mixed Steklov type problems, and discuss applications to the study of Steklov spectral asymptotics on polygons.

Eigenvalue inequalities on Riemannian manifolds with a lower Ricci curvature bound

We revisit classical eigenvalue inequalities due to Buser, Cheng, and Gromov on closed Riemannian manifolds, and prove t

On a class of inverse electrostatic and elasticity problems

We study the inverse electrostatic and elasticity problems associated with Poisson and Navier equations. The uniqueness of solutions of these problems is proved for piecewise constant electric charge and internal stress distributions having a checkered structure: they are constant on rectangular blocks. Such distributions appear naturally in practical applications. We also discuss computational challenges arising in the numerical implementation of our method.

On the Hersch-Payne-Schiffer inequalities for Steklov eigenvalues

We prove that the isoperimetric inequality due to Hersch-Payne-Schiffer for the n-th nonzero Steklov eigenvalue of a bounded simply-connected planar domain is sharp for all n=1,2,... The equality is attained in the limit by a sequence of simply-connected domains degenerating to the disjoint union of n identical disks. We give a new proof of this inequality for n=2 and show that it is strict in this case. Related results are also obtained for the product of two consecutive Steklov eigenvalues.

Maximization of the second positive Neumann eigenvalue for planar domains

We prove that the second positive Neumann eigenvalue of a bounded simply-connected planar domain of a given area does not exceed the first positive Neumann eigenvalue on a disk of a twice smaller area. This estimate is sharp and attained by a sequence of domains degenerating to a union of two identical disks. In particular, this result implies the Polya conjecture for the second Neumann eigenvalue. The proof is based on a combination of analytic and topological arguments. As a by-product of our method we obtain an upper bound on the second eigenvalue for conformally round metrics on odd-dimensional spheres.