Inequalities for the first eigenvalues of the clamped plate and buckling problems (Q4357520)

This is an interesting survey of past and present research on two isoperimetric conjectures for clamped plates of given area, both conjectures extended to \(n\) dimensions: (a) Rayleigh's conjecture that the circular plate has the lowest first eigenfrequency; (b) Pólya and Szegö's conjecture that the circular plate has the lowest critical buckling load. Rayleigh's conjecture (for \(n=2\)) was proved by Nadirashvili, its analogue for \(n=3\) by the authors; but its extension to \(n\geq 4\) dimensions is still open. Pólya and Szegö's conjecture remains open for all \(n\geq 2\). In all open cases the inequalities obtained contain an ``unwanted factor'' slightly less than 1. The authors analyze the methods of proof and show that the classical rearrangement method (Schwarz symmetrization) establishes the Rayleigh-Faber-Krahn isoperimetric inequality for the lowest fixed membrane eigenfrequency, but it has to be modified for fourth-order problems since: (1) the first eigenfunction need not have constant sign; (2) we could not control what becomes the integral \(\int(\Delta u_1)^2dx\) under rearrangement. The authors discuss important contributions by a number of authors, especially Talenti, Szegö, Krahn, Payne, Bramble, and Mohr. For the entire collection see [Zbl 0864.00057].