Escobar constants of planar domains (Q2116403)

This is a study of a conjecture for the \(k\)-th Escobar constant \(I_k(M)\) of a Riemannian manifold \((M, g)\), for \(k\geq 3\). The isomperimetric constant \(I_k\) was introduced in [\textit{A. Hassannezhad} and \textit{L. Miclo}, Ann. Sci. Éc. Norm. Supér. (4) 53, No. 1, 43--88 (2020; Zbl 1456.58021)], as an extension of \(I_2(M)\), which had been introuced in [\textit{J. F. Escobar}, J. Funct. Anal. 150, No. 2, 544--556 (1997; Zbl 0888.58066)]. It is known that the unit disk \({\mathbb D}\) maximizes \(I_2\) among all bounded domains \(M\) in \({\mathbb R}^2\) with rectifiable boundary, i.e., \(I_2(M) \leq I_2({\mathbb D})\), and that this holds for higher dimensions as well. This leads the authors to conjecture that the same inequality holds for all \(k\geq 3\), i.e., \(I_k(M) \leq I_k({\mathbb D})\). The conjecture is proved when \(M\) is a polygon in \({\mathbb R}^2\) and \(k\) is greater or equal than the number of vertices of \(M\), and for a family of curvilinear polygons.