Symmetrization of functions and principal eigenvalues of elliptic operators (Q2354251)

This paper is concerned with the study of some shape optimization problems for the principal eigenvalue of two classes of second-order uniformly elliptic operators in bounded domains of the Euclidean space. The authors are mainly interested in spectral properties of the following operators: (a) the Laplace operator with a bounded drift, namely, the operator \(-\Delta +v\cdot\nabla\); (b) the differential operator div\(\,(A\nabla)+v\cdot\nabla+V\). The proofs rely on symmetry properties of the considered operator in relationship with the corresponding Rayleigh variational formulation of the eigenvalues. The paper is well written and the methods could be extended to other classes of linear elliptic operators.