Free boundary problems with long-range interactions: uniform Lipschitz estimates in the radius (Q6046106)

Let \(\Omega\) be a smooth bounded domain in \(\mathbb{R}^N\), \(N\ge 2\) and \(k\ge 2\) be integers. For \(r\ge 0\), consider \(k\)-tuples of nonempty open subsets \(\omega_i\subset \Omega\) so that the distance between any two is at least \(r\). Let \(\bar{r}\) be the largest \(r\) so that such \(k\)-tuples exist for all \(r\in [0,\bar{r})\). Denote by \(\lambda_1(\omega_i)\) the first Dirichlet eigenvalue. This paper investigates the free boundary problem of minimizing \( \sum_{i=1}^k\lambda_1(\omega_i)\) over all such \(k\)-tuples. Prior results from [the first author et al., Arch. Ration. Mech. Anal. 228, No. 3, 743--772 (2018; Zbl 1394.35520)] are developed further to conclude that minimizing \(k\)-tuples exist for any \(r\), and under an \(L^2\) normalization condition, uniform (in \(r\)) bounds hold for the \(L^\infty\) norm of the eigenfunctions and their gradients on any such optimal \(k\)-tuple.