Efficiency and localisation for the first Dirichlet eigenfunction (Q2078203)

Summary: Bounds are obtained for the efficiency or mean to max ratio \(E(\Omega)\) for the first Dirichlet eigenfunction (positive) for open, connected sets \(\Omega\) with finite measure in Euclidean space \(\mathbb{R}^m\). It is shown that (i) localisation implies vanishing efficiency, (ii) a vanishing upper bound for the efficiency implies localisation, (iii) localisation occurs for the first Dirichlet eigenfunctions for a wide class of elongating bounded, open, convex and planar sets, (iv) if \(\Omega_n\) is any quadrilateral with perpendicular diagonals of lengths \(1\) and \(n\) respectively, then the sequence of first Dirichlet eigenfunctions localises and \(E(\Omega_n)=O(n^{-2/3}\log n)\). This disproves some claims in the literature. A key technical tool is the Feynman-Kac formula.