Extremal metrics for combinations of Laplace eigenvalues and minimal surfaces into ellipsoids (Q6075477)

\textit{J. Hersch} [C. R. Acad. Sci., Paris, Sér. A 270, 1645--1648 (1970; Zbl 0224.73083)] proved that \(\lambda_1(S^2,g)\leq 8\pi\) for every Riemannian metric \(g\) on the \(2\)-sphere \(S^2\) satisfying \(\operatorname{area}(S^2,g)=1\), with equality only if \(g\) is round. Here, \(\lambda_1(S^2,g)\) denotes the first eigenvalue of the Laplace-Beltrami operator associated to \((S^2,g)\). This famous and important result motivated several questions about optimization of the eigenvalues of the Laplacian on surfaces and higher dimensional Riemannian manifolds. The author developed in [Geom. Funct. Anal. 24, No. 4, 1336--1376 (2014; Zbl 1310.58022)] a variational method to investigate the existence of maximizers of problems related to a single eigenvalue. In this paper he generalizes his method to maximize quite general relations of several eigenvalues of the Laplacian on a surface, like \(\lambda_1+\dots+\lambda_m\) or \(\frac{1}{\lambda_1}+\dots+\frac{1}{\lambda_m}\). More precisely, for a given compact connected surface \(\Sigma\) without boundary and a \(C^1\) function \(F:(\mathbb R_{>0})^m\to \mathbb R_{>0}\) satisfying certain conditions, the minimum of \[ \Lambda_F(\Sigma)= \inf_{g} F\big(\operatorname{area}(\Sigma,g)\lambda_1(\Sigma,g), \dots,\operatorname{area}(\Sigma,g)\lambda_m(\Sigma,g) \big) \] is attained at a smooth metric on \(\Sigma\) with possibly conical singularities.