In this short note we show that the lower bounds of Mangoubi on the inner radius of nodal domains can be improved for quantum ergodic sequences of eigenfunctions, according to a certain power of the radius of shrinking balls on which the eigenfunctions equidistribute. We prove such improvements using a quick application of our recent results (arXiv:1606.02057), which give modified growth estimates for eigenfunctions that equidistribute on small balls. Since by the results of Han and Hezari-Rivière small scale QE holds for negatively curved manifolds on logarithmically shrinking balls, we get logarithmic improvements on the inner radius of such manifolds. We also get improvements for manifolds with ergodic geodesic flows. In addition using the small scale equidistribution results of Lester-Rudnick, one gets polynomial betterments of for toral eigenfunctions in dimensions $n \geq 3$. The results work only for a full density subsequence of eigenfunctions.
We consider the problem of prescribing the nodal set of the first nontrivial eigenfunction of the Laplacian in a conformal class. Our main result is that, given a separating closed hypersurface $Σ$ in a compact Riemannian manifold $(M,g_0)$ of dimension $d \geq 3$, there is a metric $g$ on $M$ conformally equivalent to $g_0$ and with the same volume such that the nodal set of its first nontrivial eigenfunction is a $C^0$-small deformation of $Σ$ (i.e., $Φ(Σ)$ with $Φ: M \to M$ a diffeomorphism arbitrarily close to the identity in the $C^0$ norm).
In this paper, we derive the sharp lower and upper bounds of nodal lengths of Laplacian eigenfunctions in the disc. Furthermore, we observe a geometric property of the eigenfunctions whose nodal curves maximize the nodal length.
Let $Ω$ be a bounded domain in $\mathbb{R}^n$ with $C^{1}$ boundary and let $u_λ$ be a Dirichlet Laplace eigenfunction in $Ω$ with eigenvalue $λ$. We show that the $(n-1)$-dimensional Hausdorff measure of the zero set of $u_λ$ does not exceed $C(Ω)\sqrtλ$. This result is new even for the case of domains with $C^\infty$-smooth boundary.
We show that, in round spheres of dimension $n\geq3$, for any given collection of codimension 2 smooth submanifolds $\mathfrak{S}:=\{Σ_1,...,Σ_N\}$ of arbitrarily complicated topology ($N$ being the complex dimension of the spinor bundle), there is always an eigenfunction $ψ=(ψ_1,...,ψ_N)$ of the Dirac operator such that each submanifold $Σ_a$, modulo ambient diffeomorphism, is a structurally stable nodal set of the spinor component $ψ_a$. The result holds for any choice of trivialization of the spinor bundle. The emergence of these structures takes place at small scales and sufficiently high …
We investigate the geometric properties of Steklov eigenfunctions in smooth manifolds. We derive the refined doubling estimates and Bernstein's inequalities. For the real analytic manifolds, we are able to obtain the sharp upper bound for the measure of interior nodal sets.
In this paper we consider the problem of prescribing the nodal set of low-energy eigenfunctions of the Laplacian. Our main result is that, given any separating closed hypersurface Σin a compact n-manifold M, there is a Riemannian metric on M such that the nodal set of its first nontrivial eigenfunction is Σ. We present a number of variations on this result, which enable us to show, in particular, that the first nontrivial eigenfunction can have as many non-degenerate critical points as one wishes.
The nodal set of the Laplacian eigenfunction has co-dimension one and has finite hypersurface measure on a compact Riemannian manifold. In this paper, we investigate the distribution of the nodal sets of eigenfunctions, when the metric on the manifold is analytic. We prove that if the eigenfunctions are equidistributed at a small scale, then the weak limits of the hypersurface volume form of their nodal sets are comparable to the volume form on the manifold. In particular, on the negatively curved manifolds with analytic metric and on the tori, we show that in any eigenbasis, there is a full d…
In this note, we discuss a question posed by T. Hoffmann-Ostenhof concerning the parity of the number of nodal domains for a non-constant eigenfunction of the Laplacian on flat tori. We present two results. We first show that on the torus $(\mathbb{R}/2π\mathbb{Z})^{2}$, a non-constant eigenfunction has an even number of nodal domains. We then consider the torus $(\mathbb{R}/2π\mathbb{Z})\times(\mathbb{R}/2ρπ\mathbb{Z})\,$, with $ρ=\frac{1}{\sqrt{3}}\,$, and construct on it an eigenfunction with three nodal domains.
We investigate the interior nodal sets $\mathcal{N}_λ$ of Steklov eigenfunctions on connected and compact surfaces with boundary. The optimal vanishing order of Steklov eigenfunctions is shown be $Cλ$. The singular sets $\mathcal{S}_λ$ are finite points on the nodal sets. We are able to prove that the Hausdorff measure $H^0(\mathcal{S}_λ)\leq Cλ^2$. Furthermore, we obtain an upper bound for the measure of interior nodal sets $H^1(\mathcal{N}_λ)\leq Cλ^{\frac{3}{2}}$. Here those positive constants $C$ depend only on the surfaces.
This article concerns the number of nodal domains of eigenfunctions of the Laplacian on special Riemannian $3$-manifolds, namely nontrivial principal $S^1$ bundles $P \to X$ over Riemann surfaces equipped with certain $S^1$ invariant metrics, the Kaluza-Klein metrics. We prove for generic Kaluza-Klein metrics that any Laplacian eigenfunction has exactly two nodal domains unless it is invariant under the $S^1$ action. We also construct an explicit orthonormal eigenbasis on the flat $3$-torus $\mathbb{T}^3$ for which every non-constant eigenfunction belonging to the basis has two nodal domains.
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.
Let $Σ$ be an oriented compact hypersurface in the round sphere $\mathbb{S}^n$ or in the flat torus $\mathbb{T}^n$, $n\geq 3$. In the case of the torus, $Σ$ is further assumed to be contained in a contractible subset of $\mathbb{T}^n$. We show that for any sufficiently large enough odd integer $N$ there exists an eigenfunctions $ψ$ of the Laplacian on $\mathbb{S}^n$ or $\mathbb{T}^n$ satisfying $Δψ=-λψ$ (with $λ=N(N+n-1)$ or $N^2$ on $\mathbb{S}^n$ or $\mathbb{T}^n$, respectively), and with a connected component of the nodal set of $ψ$ given by~$Σ$, up to an ambient diffeomorphism.
We study the nodal set of Laplace eigenfunctions on the flat $2d$ torus $\mathbb{T}^2$. We prove an asymptotic law for the nodal length of such eigenfunctions, under some growth assumptions on their Fourier coefficients. Moreover, we show that their nodal set is asymptotically equidistributed on $\mathbb{T}^2$. The proofs are based on Bourgain's de-randomisation technique and the main new ingredient, which might be of independent interest, is the integrability of arbitrarily large powers of the doubling index of Laplace eigenfunctions on $\mathbb{T}^2$, based on the work of Nazarov \cite{N93,N…
We prove a result, announced by F. Nazarov, L. Polterovich and M. Sodin that exhibits a relation between the average local growth of a Laplace eigenfunction on a closed surface and the global size of its nodal set. More precisely, we provide a lower and an upper bound to the Hausdorff measure of the nodal set in terms of the expected value of the growth exponent of an eigenfunction on disks of wavelength like radius. Combined with Yau's conjecture, the result implies that the average local growth of an eigenfunction on such disks is bounded by constants in the semi-classical limit. We also obt…
We study the stability properties of nodal sets of Laplace eigenfunctions on compact manifolds under specific small perturbations. We prove that nodal sets are fairly stable if said perturbations are relatively small, more formally, supported at a sub-wavelength scale. We do not need any assumption on the topology of the nodal sets. As an indirect application, we are able to show that a certain "Payne property" concerning the second nodal line remains stable under controlled perturbations of the domain.
We investigate the measure of nodal sets for Robin and Neumann eigenfunctions in the domain and on the boundary of the domain. A polynomial upper bound for the interior nodal sets is obtained for Robin eigenfunctions in the smooth domain. For the analytic domain, the sharp upper bounds of the interior nodal sets was shown for Robin eigenfunctions. More importantly, we obtain the sharp upper bounds for the boundary nodal sets of Neumann eigenfunctions with new quantitative global Carleman estimates. Furthermore, the sharp doubling inequality and vanishing order of Robin eigenfunctions on the bo…
We study the nodal curves of low energy Dirichlet eigenfunctions in generalized curvilinear quadrilaterals. The techniques can be seen as a generalization of the tools developed by Grieser-Jerison in a series of works on convex planar domains and rectangles with one curved edge and a large aspect ratio. Here, we study the structure of the nodal curve in greater detail, in that we find precise bounds on its curvature, with uniform estimates up to the two points where it meets the domain at right angles, and show that many of our results hold for relatively small aspect ratios of the side length…
We prove estimates for eigenfunctions on a manifold equipped with a smooth metric. We use these estimates in order estimate the size of their nodal sets.
In a recent paper, we exhibit a link between the average local growth of Laplace eigenfunctions on surfaces and the size of their nodal set. In that paper, the average local growth is computed using the uniform - or $L^\infty$ - growth exponents on disks of wavelength radius. The purpose of this note is to prove similar results for a broader class of $L^q$ growth exponents with $q \in (1, \infty)$. More precisely, we show that the size of the nodal set is bounded above and below by the product of the average local $L^q$ growth with the frequency. We briefly discuss the relation between this ne…
We consider the lower bound of nodal sets of Steklov eigenfunctions on smooth Riemannian manifolds with boundary--the eigenfunctions of the Dirichlet-to-Neumann map. Let $N_λ$ be its nodal set. Assume that zero is a regular value of Steklov eigenfunctions. We show that $$H^{n-1}(N_λ)\geq Cλ^{\frac{3-n}{2}}$$ for some positive constant $C$ depending only on the manifold.
Let ϕ be a Dirichlet or Neumann eigenfunction of the Laplace-Beltrami operator on a compact Riemannian manifold with boundary. We prove lower bounds for the size of the nodal set {ϕ=0}.
We investigate several aspects of the nodal geometry and topology of Laplace eigenfunctions, with particular emphasis on the low frequency regime. This includes investigations in and around the Payne property, opening angle estimates of nodal domains, saturation of (fundamental) spectral gaps etc., and behaviour of all of the above under small scale perturbations. We aim to highlight interesting aspects of spectral theory and nodal phenomena tied to ground state/low energy eigenfunctions, as opposed to asymptotic results.
We present a new method for locating the nodal line of the second eigenfunction for the Neumann problem in a planar domain. The technique is based on the `mirror coupling' of reflected Brownian motions.
In this paper we will prove the nodal line $N$ of the second eigenfunction of the Laplacian over some simply connected concave domain $Ω$ in $\mathbb{R}^2$ must intersect the boundary $\partialΩ$ at exactly two points.
This note concerns the nodal sets of eigenfunctions of semiclassical Schrödinger operators acting on compact, smooth, Riemannian manifolds, with no boundary. We prove that if H is a separating hypersurface that lies inside the classically forbidden region, then H cannot persist as a component of the zero set of infinitely many eigenfunctions. In addition, on real analytic surfaces, we obtain sharp upper bounds for the number of intersections of the zero sets of the Schrödinger eigenfunctions with a fixed curve that lies inside the classically forbidden region.
We build a one-parameter family of S^{1}-invariant metrics on the unit disc with fixed total area for which the second eigenvalue of the Laplace operator in the case of both Neumann and Dirichlet boundary conditions is simple and has an eigenfunction with a closed nodal line. In the case of Neumann boundary conditions, we also prove that this eigenfunction attains its maximum at an interior point, and thus provide a counterexample to the hot spots conjecture on a simply connected surface. This is a consequence of the stronger result that within this family of metrics any given (finite) number …
We consider two-dimensional Schrödinger operators in bounded domains. We analyze relations between nodal domains of eigenfunctions, spectral minimal partitions and spectral properties of the corresponding operator. The main results concern the existence and regularity of the minimal partitions associated with the nodal sets as the nodal domains of Courant-sharp eigenfunctions.
The aim of this article is to provide a simple and unified way to obtain the sharp upper bounds of nodal sets of eigenfunctions for different types of eigenvalue problems on real analytic domains. The examples include biharmonic Steklov eigenvalue problems, buckling eigenvalue problems and champed-plate eigenvalue problems. The geometric measure of nodal sets are derived from doubling inequalities and growth estimates for eigenfunctions. It is done through analytic estimates of Morrey-Nirenberg and Carleman 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. As a converse, in a two-dimensional Lipschitz domain $Ω$, we prove that any nodal domain of a Steklov eigenfunction contains a half-ball centered at $\partialΩ$ of radius $c_Ω/λ$.
It is an open problem in general to prove that there exists a sequence of $Δ_g$-eigenfunctions $ϕ_{j_k}$ on a Riemannian manifold $(M, g)$ for which the number $N(ϕ_{j_k}) $ of nodal domains tends to infinity with the eigenvalue. Our main result is that $N(ϕ_{j_k}) \to \infty$ along a subsequence of eigenvalues of density $1$ if the $(M, g)$ is a non-positively curved surface with concave boundary, i.e. a generalized Sinai or Lorentz billiard. Unlike the recent closely related work of Ghosh-Reznikov-Sarnak and of the authors on the nodal domain counting problem, the surfaces need not have any …
Recently, Sogge-Zelditch and Colding-Minicozzi gave new power law lower bounds on the size of the nodal sets of eigenfunctions. The purpose of this short note is to point out a third method to obtain a power law lower bound on the volume of the nodal sets. Our method is based on the Donnelly-Fefferman growth bound for eigenfunctions and a growth vs. volume relation we proved in a previous work.
Let $\mathbb{M}$ be a compact $C^\infty$-smooth Riemannian manifold of dimension $n$, $n\geq 3$, and let $φ_λ: Δ_M φ_λ+ λφ_λ= 0$ denote the Laplace eigenfunction on $\mathbb{M}$ corresponding to the eigenvalue $λ$. We show that $$H^{n-1}(\{ φ_λ=0\}) \leq C λ^α,$$ where $α>1/2$ is a constant, which depends on $n$ only, and $C>0$ depends on $\mathbb{M}$ . This result is a consequence of our study of zero sets of harmonic functions on $C^\infty$-smooth Riemannian manifolds. We develop a technique of propagation of smallness for solutions of elliptic PDE that allows us to obtain local bounds from …
Generalizing Courant's nodal domain theorem, the "Extended Courant property" is the statement that a linear combination of the first $n$ eigenfunctions has at most $n$ nodal domains. In a previous paper (Documenta Mathematica, 2018, Vol. 23, pp. 1561--1585), we gave simple counterexamples to this property, including convex domains. In the present paper, using some input from numerical computations, we pursue the investigation of the Extended Courant property with two new examples, the equilateral rhombus and the regular hexagon.
We introduce the class of quasiconvex Lipschitz domains, which covers both $C^1$ and convex domains, to the study of boundary unique continuation for elliptic operators. In particular, we prove the upper bound of the size of nodal sets for Dirichlet eigenfunctions of general elliptic equations in bounded quasiconvex Lipschitz domains. Our result is new even for Laplace operator in convex domains.
In this paper, we show that equality in Courant's nodal domain theorem can only be reached for a finite number of eigenvalues of the Neumann Laplacian, in the case of an open, bounded and connected set in R n with a C 1,1 boundary. This result is analogous to Pleijel's nodal domain theorem for the Dirichlet Laplacian (1956). It confirms, in all dimensions, a conjecture formulated by Pleijel, which had already been solved by I. Polterovich for a two-dimensional domain with a piecewise-analytic boundary (2009). We also show that the argument and the result extend to a class of Robin boundary con…
Let $Δ_M$ be the Laplace operator on a compact $n$-dimensional Riemannian manifold without boundary. We study the zero sets of its eigenfunctions $u:Δu + λu =0$. In dimension $n=2$ we refine the Donnelly-Fefferman estimate by showing that $H^1(\{u=0 \})\le Cλ^{3/4-β}$, $β\in (0,1/4)$. The proof employs the Donnelli-Fefferman estimate and a combinatorial argument, which also gives a lower (non-sharp) bound in dimension $n=3$: $H^2(\{u=0\})\ge cλ^α$, $α\in (0,1/2)$. The positive constants $c,C$ depend on the manifold, $α$ and $β$ are universal.
We study the interior nodal sets, $Z_λ$ of Steklov eigenfunctions in an $n$-dimensional relatively compact manifolds $M$ with boundary and show that one has the lower bounds $|Z_λ|\ge cλ^{\frac{2-n}2}$ for the size of its $(n-1)$-dimensional Hausdorff measure. The proof is based on a Dong-type identity and estimates for the gradient of Steklov eigenfunctions, similar to those in \cite{SZ1} and \cite{SZ2}, respectively.
The goal of this article is to draw new applications of small scale quantum ergodicity in nodal sets of eigenfunctions. We show that if quantum ergodicity holds on balls of shrinking radius $r(λ) \to 0$, then one can achieve improvements on the recent upper bounds of Logunov and Logunov-Malinnikova on the size of nodal sets, according to a certain power of $r(λ)$. We also show that the order of vanishing results of Donnelly-Fefferman and Dong can be improved. Since by the results of Han and Hezari-Rivière small scale QE holds on negatively curved manifolds at logarithmically shrinking rates, w…
We prove an analogue of Sogge's local $L^p$ estimates for $L^p$ norms of restrictions of eigenfunctions to submanifolds, and use it to show that for quantum ergodic eigenfunctions one can get improvements of the results of Burq-Gérard-Tzvetkov, Hu, and Chen-Sogge. The improvements are logarithmic on negatively curved manifolds (without boundary) and by $o(1)$ for manifolds (with or without boundary) with ergodic geodesic flows. In the case of ergodic billiards with piecewise smooth boundary, we get $o(1)$ improvements on $L^\infty$ estimates of Cauchy data away from a shrinking neighborhood of…
Let $Ω$ be a bounded annular $C^{1,1}$ domain in $\mathbb{R}^2$ which is left invariant under the action of the dihedral group $D_n$ of isometries of $\mathbb{R}^2$ .We show that the nodal line of a second Dirichlet eigenfunction must intersect the boundary of $Ω$, under suitable conditions on $\frac{\partial}{\partial θ}$ .
We study the size of nodal sets of Laplacian eigenfunctions on compact Riemannian manifolds without boundary and recover the currently optimal lower bound by comparing the heat flow of the eigenfunction with that of an artifically constructed diffusion process. The same method should apply to a number of other questions; for example, we prove a sharp result saying that a nodal domain cannot be entirely contained in a small neighbourhood of a 'reasonably flat' surface. We expect the arising concepts to have more connections to classical theory and pose some conjectures in that direction.
In this note, we make an observation that Laplacian eigenfunctions fail equidistribution at the Planck scale. Furthermore, equidistribution at the same scale also fails around the points where the eigenfunctions have large values.
We give uniform upper and lower bounds for the L^2 norm of the restriction of eigenfunctions of the Laplacian on the three-dimensional standard flat torus to surfaces with non-vanishing curvature. We also present several related results concerning the nodal sets of eigenfunctions.
We study the nodal set of the Steklov eigenfunctions on the boundary of a smooth bounded domain in $\mathbb{R}^n$ - the eigenfunctions of the Dirichlet-to-Neumann map. Under the assumption that the domain $Ω$ is $C^2$, we prove a doubling property for the eigenfunction $u$. We estimate the Hausdorff $\mathcal H^{n-2}$-measure of the nodal set of $u|_{\partial Ω}$ in terms of the eigenvalue $λ$ as $λ$ grows to infinity. In case that the domain $Ω$ is analytic, we prove a polynomial bound O($λ^6$). Our arguments, which make heavy use of Almgren's frequency functions, are built on the previous wo…
Let $ Ω\subset R^2$ be a bounded piecewise smooth domain and $ϕ_λ$ be a Neumann (or Dirichlet) eigenfunction with eigenvalue $λ^2$ and nodal set ${ N}_{ϕ_λ} = {x \in Ω; ϕ_λ(x) = 0}.$ Let $H \subset Ω$ be an interior $C^ω$ curve. Consider the intersection number $$ n(λ,H):= \# (H \cap N_{ϕ_λ} ).$$ We first prove that for general piecewise-analytic domains, and under an appropriate "goodness" condition on $H$, $$ n(λ,H) = {\mathcal O}_H(λ) (*)$$ as $λ\rightarrow \infty.$ We then prove that the bound in $(*)$ is satisfied in the case of quantum ergodic (QE) sequences of interior eigenfunctions, p…
It is proved that if a Paley-Wiener family of eigenfunctions of the Laplace operator in $\mathbb R^3$ vanishes on a real analytically ruled two-dimensional surface $S \subset \mathbb R^3$ then $S$ is a union of cones, each of which is contained in a translate of the zero set of a nonzero harmonic homogeneous polynomial. If $S$ is an immersed $C^1-$ manifold then $S$ is a Coxeter system of planes. Full description of common nodal sets of the Laplace spectra of convexly supported distributions is given. In equivalent terms, the result describes ruled injectivity sets for the spherical mean trans…
We construct a multiply connected domain in $\mathbb{R}^2$ for which the second eigenfunction of the Laplacian with Robin boundary conditions has an interior nodal line. In the process, we adapt a bound of Donnelly-Fefferman type to obtain a uniform estimate on the size of the nodal sets of a sequence of solutions to a certain class of elliptic equations in the interior of a sequence of domains, which does not depend directly on any boundary behaviour. This also gives a new proof of the nodal line property of the example in the Dirichlet case.
