A Serrin-type symmetry result on model manifolds: an extension of the Weinberger argument (Q1636158)

Let \(\mathbb{M}^m_\sigma\) be the Riemannian manifold obtained to give \([0,R)\times\mathbb{S}^{m-1}/\sim\) a metric \(g_\sigma\); \[ g_\sigma=dr\otimes dr+\sigma^2(r)g_{\mathbb{S}^{m-1}}. \] Here \(\sim\) identifies all the points of \(\{0\}\times \mathbb{S}^{m-1}\) and \(\sigma\) is a smooth function such that \(\sigma(r)>0\), if \(r>0\), \(\sigma'(0)=1\) and \(\sigma^{2k}(0)=0, k=1,2,\ldots\) (Def.2. \(\mathbb{M}^m_\sigma\) is called a model manifold). The unique point corresponding to \(r=0\) is denoted by \(o\) Then the following Serrin-type symmetry result [\textit{J. Serrin}, Arch. Ration. Mech. Anal. 43, 304--318 (1971; Zbl 0222.31007)], is proved. Theorem 3. Let \(\Omega\Subset B_{\tilde{R}}(o)\) be a smooth subdomain of \(\mathbb{M}^m_\sigma\) containing \(o\), and assume on \([0,\tilde{R})\), \(\mathrm{Ricc}_{\mathbb{M}^m_\sigma}\geq 0\) and \(\sigma'>0\). If \(\Omega\) supports a soluition \(\bigtriangleup U=-1\) satisfying the overdetermined boundary condition \[ \begin{cases} u=0, \text{ on }\partial \Omega \\ \partial_\nu u=\mathrm{constant}, \text{ on }\partial\Omega,\end{cases} \] and \(u\) satisfies the following compatibility condition \[ \int\frac{(\sigma'\sigma^{m-1})'}{\sigma^{m-1}}u^2\geq 0, \] then \(\Omega\) is a Euclidean ball of radius\(\rho\) centered in \(o\), and \[ u(r)=\frac{1}{2m}(\rho^2-r^2), \quad r(x)=\mathrm{dist}(x,o). \] Since \[ \begin{aligned} \mathrm{Ric}_{\mathbb{M}^m_\sigma}(X,X) \quad &=(m-2)\dfrac{1-\sigma')^2}{\sigma^2}-\dfrac{\sigma''}{\sigma}, \\ \mathrm{Ric}_{\mathbb{M}^m_\sigma}(\nabla r,\nabla r)&=-(m-1)\frac{\sigma''}{\sigma}, \end{aligned} \] [\textit{P. Petersen}, Riemannian geometry. New York, NY: Springer (1998; Zbl 0914.53001)], \(\mathrm{Ric}_{\mathbb{M}^m_\sigma}\geq 0\) means \(\sigma''\leq 0\) and \((m-2)(1-(\sigma')^2)-\sigma\sigma'\geq 0\). Proof is done by this fact and analytic approach based on the Maximum principle, the integration by parts, the Cauchy-Schwartz inequality, and the Bochneer-Weitzenboch formula (Weinberger argument; [\textit{H. F. Weinberger}, Arch. Ration. Mech. Anal. 43, 319--320 (1971; Zbl 0222.31008)].