On a long-standing conjecture by Pólya-Szegö and related topics (Q2571336)

The electrostatic capacity of a bounded domain \(\Omega\subset\mathbb R^3\) is given by \[ \text{Cap}(\Omega)={1\over 4\pi}\inf\left\{\int_{\mathbb R^3} | \nabla u| ^2 ;\;u\in D^{1,2}(\mathbb R^3), u=1 \text{ in } \Omega\right\}, \] where \(D^{1,2}(\mathbb R^3)\) is the closure of the space of smooth functions with compact support with respect to the Dirichlet norm. The equilibrium potential of \(\Omega\), \(U_\Omega\), is the unique solution of the problem \(\Delta U_\Omega=0\) in \(\mathbb R^3\setminus\Omega\), \(U_\Omega=1\) on \(\partial\Omega\), \(\lim_{| x| \to +\infty} U_\Omega(x)=0\). The electrostatic capacity and the equilibrium capacity are related through the asymptotic expansion \[ U_\Omega(x)=\text{Cap}(\Omega)| x| ^{-1}+O(| x| ^{-2})\quad\text{for }| x| \to +\infty. \] The electrostatic capacity is the total electric charge needed to induce the equilibrium potential. The exact value of the capacity is of great interest in physics. However, the solutions of the equilibrium potential equations are not easily computable, and numerical computations are not simple since we are dealing with unbounded domains. Hence one is led to seek approximate formulae for the capacity. The Russell capacity, \(\text{Cap}_R(\Omega)\) is equal to \((4\pi)^{-1/2}S(\Omega)^{1/2}\), where \(S(\Omega)\) is the boundary area of \(\Omega\). The web capacity \(\text{Cap}_{W}(\Omega)\) is computed as the standard capacity, but restricting the admissible class to those functions in \(D^{1,2}(\mathbb R^3)\) that depend only on the distance to \(\partial\Omega\). To evaluate the precision of these approximations, a cost functional \(E(\Omega)\), defined as the ratio between the capacity and the approximate capacity, is considered. Basic questions are if \(\inf E(\Omega)\) is strictly positive, and which are the optimal shapes. A long standing conjecture by \textit{G. Pólya} and \textit{G. Szegö} [Isoperimetric inequalities in mathematical physics. Ann. Math. Studies, 27. Princeton: Princeton University Press (1951; Zbl 0044.38301)] says that, when considering the Russell capacity, the infimum of \(E\) (which is known to be strictly positive) is attained by the \(2\)-dimensional disk. In this paper, the authors show that an optimal shape exists. Some theoretical and numerical results supporting the conjecture are also given. Concerning the web capacity, the authors prove that the infimum of the cost functional is strictly positive. Numerical results indicate that, in this case, the disk is not optimal and that the infimum is attained. The proofs use variational arguments.