Renormalization of potentials and generalized centers (Q408122)

Let \(\Omega\subset {\mathbb R}^m\) be a body, that is a compact set which is the closure of its interior. The author introduces the so-called renormalized \(r^{\alpha-m}\)-potential \((\alpha\in{\mathbb R})\) \(V_\Omega^{(\alpha)}:{\mathbb R}^m\rightarrow{\mathbb R}\) of \(\Omega\) as follows. (i) When \(\alpha >0\) or \(x\not\in\Omega\), \[ V_\Omega^{(\alpha)}(x):=\int_\Omega |x-y|^{\alpha-m}\,{\text d} \mu(y)\,, \] where \(\mu\) is the Lebesgue measure on \({\mathbb R}^m\). (ii) When \(\alpha <0\) and \(x\) belongs to the interior of \(\Omega\), \[ V_\Omega^{(\alpha)}(x):=\lim_{\varepsilon\rightarrow +0}\left[\int_{\Omega\setminus B_\varepsilon(x)}|x-y|^{\alpha-m}\,{\text d}\mu(y)+A(S^{m-1})\cdot\frac{\varepsilon^\alpha}{\alpha}\right], \] where \(B_\varepsilon(x)\) denotes the ball with center \(x\) and radius \(\varepsilon >0\), \(S^{m-1}\) denotes the unit sphere in \({\mathbb R}^m\), and \(A(S^{m-1})\) its area. (iii) When \(x\) belongs to the interior of \(\Omega\), \[ V_\Omega^{(0)}(x):=\lim_{\varepsilon \rightarrow +0}\left[\int_{\Omega\setminus B_\varepsilon(x)}|x-y|^{-m}\,{\text d}\mu(y)+A(S^{m-1})\cdot \log\varepsilon\right]. \] This notion generalizes the Riesz potential \((0<\alpha <m)\) and the Newton potential (\(\alpha=2\) and \(m\geq 3\)). The author shows basic properties and gives boundary integral representations of \(V_\Omega^{(\alpha)}\) using Stokes' theorem. Then he investigates where the extreme values of \(V_\Omega^{(\alpha)}\) are attained, this being at the so-called \(r^{\alpha-m}\)-centers of \(\Omega\). Such points can be considered as a generalization of the center of mass. To locate an \(r^{ \alpha-m}\)-center, the so-called moving plane method is used, which leads to another geometric notion, the so-called minimal unfolded region of \(\Omega\). The article ends with a study of the asymptotic behavior of \(r^{\alpha-m}\)-centers as \(\alpha\) goes to \(\pm\infty\).