A Liouville property for spherical averages in the plane (Q5947407)

Extending earlier work of \textit{P. C. Fenton} [Trans. Am. Math. Soc. 253, 139-147 (1979; Zbl 0368.31001)], the author shows that any continuous bounded function \(f\) on \(\mathbb{R}^2\) such that \(f(x)={1\over 2\pi} \int^{2\pi}_0 f(x+r(x)e^{it})dt\), \(x\in\mathbb{R}^2\), is constant, provided that \(r\) is a strictly positive real function satisfying \(\limsup_{|x|\to\infty} (r(x)-|x|)< +\infty\). The proof depends on a minimum principle and a study of \((\sigma,r)\)-stable sets -- that is, sets \(A\) such that the circle of radius \(r(x)\) centred at \(x\) is contained in \(A\) whenever \(x\in A\). It turns out that there is no disjoint pair of non-empty closed \((\sigma,r)\)-stable subsets in \(\mathbb{R}^2\) unless \(\limsup_{|x|\to\infty} r(x)/|x|\geq 3\). A counter-example is given where \(\limsup_{|x|\to\infty} r(x)/|x |=4\).