Maximization of the second non-trivial Neumann eigenvalue (Q2003631)

The authors prove the following isoperimetric inequality for the second positive eigenvalue of the Neumann Laplacian on a regular open set \(\Omega\) of \(\mathbb R^N\): \[ |\Omega|^{\frac{2}{N}}\mu_2(\Omega)\leq\mu_2^*. \] If equality occurs, then \(\Omega\) coincides a.e. with the union of two disjoint equal balls. An open set is called regular if \(H^2(\Omega)\hookrightarrow L^2(\Omega)\) is compact. Here \(\mu_2^*=2^{\frac{2}{N}}|B|^{\frac{2}{N}}\mu_1(B)\) with \(B\) any ball in \(\mathbb R^N\) and \(\mu_1(B)\) the first positive Neumann eigenvalue on \(B\). In particular \(\mu_2^*=\mu_2(B_1\cup B_2)\) where \(B_1,B_2\) are balls such that \(|B_1|=|B_2|=\frac{1}{2}\). This inequality is in the tradition of the Szegö-Weinberger inequality for \(\mu_1(\Omega)\), the Faber-Krahn inequality for \(\lambda_1(\Omega)\) (first Dirichlet Laplacian eigenvalue) and the Hong-Krahn-Szegö inequality for \(\lambda_2(\Omega)\) (second Dirichlet Laplacian eigenvalue). As a consequence, the authors prove that Polya's conjecture holds for the second positive Neumann eigenvalue in any space dimension. The authors recover the isoperimetric inequality as a consequence of more general results holding for arbitrary open sets (also non-regular) and prove also an extension of the Szegö-Weinberger inequality in this setting. Precisely, for \(\rho\in L^1(\mathbb R^N)\), \(0\leq \rho\leq 1\), they define \[ \tilde\mu_k(\rho):=\inf_{S\in\mathcal L_k}\max_{u\in S}\frac{\int_{\mathbb R^N}\rho|\nabla u|^2dx}{\int_{\mathbb R^N}\rho u^2dx}, \] where \(\mathcal L_k\) is the family of all \(k\)-dimensional subspaces in \[ \left\{u\chi_{\rho(x)>0}:u\in C^{\infty}_c(\mathbb R^N)\text{ and }\int_{\mathbb R^N}\rho u dx=0\right\} \] Then they prove that \[ \left(\int_{\mathbb R^N}\rho dx\right)^{\frac{2}{N}}\tilde\mu_1(\rho)\leq\mu_1^* \] with equality if and only if \(\rho=\chi_B\) a.e., for some ball \(B\) (extension of Szegö-Weinberger), and that \[ \left(\int_{\mathbb R^N}\rho dx\right)^{\frac{2}{N}}\tilde\mu_2(\rho)\leq\mu_2^* \] with equality if and only if \(\rho=\chi_{B_1}+\chi_{B_2}\) a.e., where \(B_1\) and \(B_2\) are two disjoint open balls of equal measure.