Regularity of a free boundary with application to the Pompeiu problem (Q1972074)

The main part of the paper is devoted to the following free boundary value problem. Let \(B\) be the unit ball in \(\mathbb{R}^N\) centered at the origin and look for a domain \(\Omega\subset \mathbb{R}^N\) such that \[ \Delta u= \chi_\Omega\quad\text{in }B,\quad u=|\nabla u|= 0\quad\text{in }B\setminus \Omega,\quad 0\in \partial\Omega. \] The aim of the paper is to find conditions ensuring the analyticity of \(\partial\Omega\) near the origin. The desired result is obtained through three theorems (each one interesting in itself), that were previously known only in two dimensions. Define the class \(P_r(z,M)\) as the set of functions \(u\) satisfying \[ \Delta u= \chi_\Omega\quad\text{in }B_r(z),\quad u= |\nabla u|=0 \quad\text{in }B_r(z)\setminus \Omega,\quad \|u\|_{\infty|B_r(z)}\leq M,\quad z\in\partial\Omega, \] and the class \(P_\infty(0,M)\) of the solutions in \(\mathbb{R}^N\) with growth condition \(|u(x)|\leq M(|x|^2+ 1)\). Define also (i) the minimal diameter MD\((D)\) of a bounded set \(D\) as the infimum of distances between pairs of parallel planes bounding a strip containing \(D\), (ii) the density function \[ \delta_r(u)= {1\over r}\text{MD}\{(u= |\nabla u|= 0\cap B_r(0)\}. \] The three basic theorems are the following: Theorem 1. If \(u\in P_1(z, M)\) there exists a constant \(C\), depending only on the dimension \(N\), such that \(\sup_{B_{{1\over 2}}(z)}\|D_{ij}u\|\leq CM\). Theorem 2. Let \(u\in P_\infty(0,M)\) and \(\delta_r(u)> 0\) for some \(r\). Then \(u\geq 0\) in \(\mathbb{R}^N\) and \(D_{ee} u\geq 0\) in \(\Omega\) for any direction \(e\) (\(\Omega^c\) is convex). Moreover, if \(\lim_{R\to\infty} \sup\delta_R(u)> 0\), then \(u= {1\over 2}(\max(x_1, 0))^2\) in some coordinate system. Theorem 3. If there exists a modulus of continuity \(\sigma\) such that if \(u\in P_1(D, M)\) and \(\delta_{r_0}(u)> \sigma(r_0)\) for some \(r_0< 1\), then \(\partial\Omega\) is the graph of a \(C^1\) function in \(B(0, C_0, r^2_0)\), with \(C_0= C_0(M, N)\). As a Corollary to Theorem 3, results existing in the literature imply that the assumption of Theorem 3 guarantees the analyticity of \(\partial\Omega\) near the origin. Theorem 1 and 3 are extended to the non-general operator \(\Sigma_{ij}D_i(a_{ij} D_ju)+ a(x)u\). In particular this implies that the same analyticity results holds when the Laplacian is replaced by the Helmholtz operator \(\Delta u+u\) (the problem is then related to the so-called Pompeiu problem).