Nodal Sets of Steklov Eigenfunctions near the Boundary: Inner Radius Estimates

We show that Steklov eigenfunctions in a bounded Lipschitz domain have wavelength dense nodal sets near the boundary, in contrast to what can happen deep inside the domain. Conversely, in a 2D Lipschitz domain $\Omega $, we prove that any nodal domain of a Steklov eigenfunction contains a half-ball centered at $\partial \Omega $ of radius $c_{\Omega }/{\lambda }$.

Large Steklov eigenvalues via homogenisation on manifolds

Using methods in the spirit of deterministic homogenisation theory we obtain convergence of the Steklov eigenvalues of a sequence of domains in a Riemannian manifold to weighted Laplace eigenvalues of that manifold. The domains are obtained by removing small geodesic balls that are asymptotically densely uniformly distributed as their radius tends to zero. We use this relationship to construct manifolds that have large Steklov eigenvalues. In dimension two, and with constant weight equal to 1, we prove that Kokarev’s upper bound of $$8\pi $$ 8 π for the first nonzero normalised Steklov eigenvalue on orientable surfaces of genus 0 is saturated. For other topological types and eigenvalue indices, we also obtain lower bounds on the best upper bound for the eigenvalue in terms of Laplace maximisers. For the first two eigenvalues, these lower bounds become equalities. A surprising consequence is the existence of free boundary minimal surfaces immersed in the unit ball by first Steklov eigenfunctions and with area strictly larger than $$2\pi $$ 2 π . This was previously thought to be impossible. We provide numerical evidence that some of the already known examples of free boundary minimal surfaces have these properties and also exhibit simulations of new free boundary minimal surfaces of genus zero in the unit ball with even larger area. We prove that the first nonzero Steklov eigenvalue of all these examples is equal to 1, as a consequence of their symmetries and topology, so that they are consistent with a general conjecture by Fraser and Li. In dimension three and larger, we prove that the isoperimetric inequality of Colbois–El Soufi–Girouard is sharp and implies an upper bound for weighted Laplace eigenvalues. We also show that in any manifold with a fixed metric, one can construct by varying the weight a domain with connected boundary whose first nonzero normalised Steklov eigenvalue is arbitrarily large.

Steklov approximations of Green’s functions for Laplace equations

Purpose This paper aims to present a meshless technique to find the Green’s functions for solutions of Laplacian boundary value problems on rectangular domains. This paper also investigates a theoretical basis for the Steklov series expansion methods to reduce and estimate the error of numerical approaches for the boundary correction kernel of the Laplace operator. Design/methodology/approach The main interest is how the Green's functions differ from the fundamental solution of the Laplace operator. Steklov expansion methods for finding the correction term are supported by the analysis that bases of the class of all finite harmonic functions can be formed using harmonic Steklov eigenfunctions. These functions construct a basis of the space of solutions of harmonic boundary value problems and their boundary traces generate an orthogonal basis of the trace space of solutions on the boundary. Findings The main conclusion is that the boundary correction term for the Green's functions is well-approximated by Steklov expansions with a few Steklov eigenfunctions. The error estimates for the Steklov approximations of the boundary correction term involved in Dirichlet or Robin boundary value problems are found. They appear to provide very good approximations in the interior of the region and become quite oscillatory close to the boundary. Originality/value This paper concentrates to document the first attempt to find the Green's function for various harmonic boundary value problems with the explicit Steklov eigenfunctions without concerns regarding discretizations when the region is a rectangle.

Nodal length of Steklov eigenfunctions on real-analytic Riemannian surfaces

We prove sharp upper and lower bounds for the nodal length of Steklov eigenfunctions on real-analytic Riemannian surfaces with boundary. The argument involves frequency function methods for harmonic functions in the interior of the surface as well as the construction of exponentially accurate approximations for the Steklov eigenfunctions near the boundary.

Highly accurate and efficient numerical methods for a problem of heat conduction

In this work, we present a theoretical basis for the Steklov series expansion methods to reduce and estimate the error of numerical solutions for heat conduction. The meshless spectral method is applied to represent the temperature over the two-dimensional field using the harmonic Steklov eigenfunctions. Error estimates for Steklov approximations are given. With explicit formulae for the Steklov eigenfunctions and eigenvalues, results about the accuracy of the methods for several variables of interest according to the number of eigenfunctions used are described.