Rearrangement optimization for some elliptic equations (Q2483039)

The article studies the maximization of a functional involving the unique solution of an elliptic boundary value problem over the set of all rearrangements of a fixed positive \(L^2\) function. Here, rearrangements denote all functions with the same distribution function as the generating function. Existence results as well as the validity of Euler-Lagrange equations are shown. For the special case when the generating function is a characteristic function, domain derivatives are used to obtain a free boundary result.