English

Ratios of harmonic functions with the same zero set

Analysis of PDEs 2017-02-17 v3 Classical Analysis and ODEs

Abstract

We study the ratio of harmonic functions u,vu,v, which have the same zero set ZZ in the unit ball BRnB\subset \mathbb{R}^n. The ratio f=u/vf=u/v can be extended to a real analytic nowhere vanishing function in BB. We prove the Harnack inequality and the gradient estimate for such ratios in any dimension: for a given compact set KBK\subset B we show that supKfC1infKf\sup_K|f|\le C_1\inf_K|f| and supKfC2infKf\sup_K\left|\nabla f\right|\le C_2 \inf_K|f|, where C1C_1 and C2C_2 depend on KK and ZZ only. In dimension two we specify the dependence of the constants on ZZ in these inequalities by showing that only the number of nodal domains of uu, i.e. the number of connected components of BZB\setminus Z, plays a role.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1506.08041,
  title  = {Ratios of harmonic functions with the same zero set},
  author = {Alexander Logunov and Eugenia Malinnikova},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1506.08041},
  year   = {2017}
}
R2 v1 2026-06-22T10:00:49.445Z