Hölder stability for Serrin's overdetermined problem (Q740050)

Let~\(\Omega\) be a smooth bounded domain in~\(\mathbb R^N\) such that the problem \[ \begin{cases} \Delta u + f(u) = 0 &\text{ in }\Omega, \\ u = 0 &\text{ on }\partial \Omega, \\ u_\nu = \mathrm{const. }&\text{ on }\partial\Omega\end{cases} \] admits a solution \(u \in C^2(\overline \Omega)\) which is \textit{positive} in~\(\Omega\). Here, \(u_\nu\) denotes the directional derivative of~\(u\) with respect to the \textit{inward} normal~\(\nu\) to~\(\partial\Omega\), and \(f\) is a continuously differentiable function of~\(u\). Under such assumptions the domain~\(\Omega\) must be a ball: this follows from Theorem~2 in [\textit{J. Serrin}, Arch. Ration. Mech. Anal. 43, 304--318 (1971; Zbl 0222.31007)]. The main contribution of the paper under review is that the normal derivative~\(u_\nu\) is allowed to vary along the boundary~\(\partial \Omega\), at the cost of assuming \(\Omega\) convex. More precisely, the authors show that the convex domain~\(\Omega\) satisfies \(B_{r_i} \subset \Omega \subset B_{r_e}\), where \(B_{r_i}\) and \(B_{r_e}\) are two concentric balls whose radii \(r_i,r_e\) are close to each other in the sense that \[ r_e - r_i \leq C \, [u_\nu]_{\partial\Omega}^\tau. \] Thus, the difference \(r_e - r_i\) is bounded by the Lipschitz constant \([u_\nu]_{\partial\Omega}\) of~\(u_\nu\) along~\(\partial \Omega\) raised to a convenient power \(\tau \in (0,1)\) (whence the term \textit{Hölder} stability) multiplied by a coefficient~\(C\) that depends on the dimension~\(N\); the function~\(f\); the diameter of~\(\Omega\); the radius of the optimal interior touching sphere to~\(\partial \Omega\); the maximum of~\(u\) over~\(\overline \Omega\); the minimum of~\(u_\nu\) along~\(\partial \Omega\); the \(C^{2,\alpha}\)-regularity of~\(\Omega\), see Remark~1 in [\textit{B. Brandolini} et al., J. Differ. Equations 245, No. 6, 1566--1583 (2008; Zbl 1173.35019)]. The proof relies on results in [\textit{A. Aftalion} et al., Adv. Differ. Equ. 4, No. 6, 907--932 (1999; Zbl 0951.35046)] and it is based on the moving plane method. Further results on \textit{approximate radial symmetry} are found in [\textit{A. Henrot} and \textit{G. A. Philippin}, Z. Angew. Math. Phys. 54, No. 5, 784--796 (2003; Zbl 1099.35504)], [\textit{A. Greco}, J. Anal. Math. 121, 223--234 (2013; Zbl 1282.35258)] and in [\textit{C. Bianchini} et al., Interfaces Free Bound. 16, No. 2, 215--241 (2014; Zbl 1297.35153)].