An equivalence between the Dirichlet and the Neumann problem for the Laplace operator (Q283430): Difference between revisions

The authors provide a representation formula for the solution of the Neumann problem for the Laplace operator in terms of the solution of a suitable Dirichlet problem. They first show that if \(\mathbb{U}\) is the unit ball in \(\mathbb{R}^n\) and \(\phi : \partial \mathbb{U} \to \mathbb{R}\) is continuous and satisfies \(\int_{\partial \mathbb{U}}\phi(z)\sigma_0(dz)=0\) then the solution \(U\) of the Neumann problem in \(\mathbb{U}\) for the Laplacian with Neumann datum \(\phi\) and such that \(U(0)=0\) is delivered by \[ U(z)=\int_0^1 \frac{u(\rho z)}{\rho}\, d\rho \, , \qquad z \in \overline{\mathbb{U}}\, , \] where \(u\) is the solution of the Dirichlet problem in \(\mathbb{U}\) for the Laplacian with Dirichlet datum \(\phi\). Analogous formulae are then derived for different elliptic operators and, via conformal mapping, for more general smooth planar domains. Further applications are given for the solution of the Neumann problem in the unit ball of an abstract Wiener space and for an explicit representation formula of the Dirichlet-to-Neumann operator.