Sharp bounds for the first eigenvalue of a fourth-order Steklov problem (Q490763)

The authors study the biharmonic Steklov eigenvalue problem on a compact Riemannian manifold with smooth boundary. That is a fourth-order boundary problem. A solution is an eigenvalue of the square of the Laplacian of the manifold, it vanishes on the boundary, and its Laplacian is a multiple of the normal derivative on the boundary. The problem admits a discrete sequence of eigenvalues. In the paper, the authors give a sharp lower bound of the first eigenvalue where the bound depends on the dimension, a lower bound of the Ricci curvature, a lower bound of the mean curvature of the boundary and the inner radius. For this, they use a variational characterization of the first eigenvalues in terms of harmonic functions of the manifold and comparison arguments.