English

Serrin's Problem under Dirichlet Perturbations: Geometric Compactness and Sharp Planar Stability

Analysis of PDEs 2026-07-13 v1

Abstract

In earlier work, we posed a stability question for Serrin's overdetermined problem under Dirichlet perturbations and proved that the answer is negative in dimensions n3n\ge3. Here we resolve the question in the planar convex class and obtain a sharp quantitative theory without any a priori geometric nondegeneracy. Let uΩu_\Omega solve ΔuΩ=1 in Ω,νuΩ=ΩP(Ω) on Ω,ΩuΩdσ=0, -\Delta u_\Omega=1\ \text{in }\Omega,\qquad \partial_\nu u_\Omega=-\frac{|\Omega|}{P(\Omega)}\ \text{on }\partial\Omega, \qquad \int_{\partial\Omega}u_\Omega\,d\sigma=0, and set O(Ω):=oscΩuΩO(\Omega):=\text{osc}_{\partial \Omega}u_\Omega. We construct fixed-area annuli with O(Ωk)0O(\Omega_k)\to0 that remain far from every disk, showing that convexity is essential in dimension two. By contrast, if ΩkR2\Omega_k\subset\mathbb R^2 are convex, Ωk=π|\Omega_k|=\pi, and O(Ωk)0O(\Omega_k)\to0, then, up to translations, Ωk\Omega_k converges in Hausdorff distance to the unit disk. Moreover, RΩrΩ+infzR2dH(Ω,B1(z))CO(Ω) R_\Omega-r_\Omega+\inf_{z\in\mathbb R^2}d_H(\Omega,B_1(z)) \le C\,O(\Omega) for all planar convex Ω\Omega with Ω=π|\Omega|=\pi and sufficiently small O(Ω)O(\Omega), and the linear order is optimal. The proof combines a new mechanism excluding long-thin degeneration, the rough-domain Serrin rigidity theorem of Figalli--Zhang, new tangential-gradient and linear boundary-growth estimates, a boundary PP-function estimate, and the reverse-Serrin identity of Magnanini--Molinarolo--Poggesi. We also study the weaker deficit A(Ω):=1P(Ω)ΩuΩ,dσminΩuΩ. A(\Omega):=\frac1{P(\Omega)}\int_{\partial\Omega}u_\Omega,d\sigma-\min_{\partial\Omega}u_\Omega. In the planar convex class, A(Ωk)0A(\Omega_k)\to0 still forces convergence to a disk, and RΩrΩ+infzdH(Ω,B1(z))CA(Ω)2/3 R_\Omega-r_\Omega+\inf_z d_H(\Omega,B_1(z)) \le C A(\Omega)^{2/3} for Ω=π|\Omega|=\pi and sufficiently small A(Ω)A(\Omega).

Cite

@article{arxiv.2607.11812,
  title  = {Serrin's Problem under Dirichlet Perturbations: Geometric Compactness and Sharp Planar Stability},
  author = {Qinfeng Li and Weihong Xie and Hang Yang},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2607.11812},
  year   = {2026}
}