Related papers: The hot spots conjecture can be false: Some numeri…

We construct a counterexample to the ``hot spots'' conjecture; there exists a bounded connected planar domain (with two holes) such that the second eigenvalue of the Laplacian in that domain with Neumann boundary conditions is simple and…

The hot spots conjecture asserts that for any convex bounded domain $\Omega$ in $\mathbb R^d$, the first non-trivial Neumann eigenfunction of the Laplace operator in $\Omega$ attains its maximum at the boundary. We construct counterexamples…

There exists a planar domain with piecewise smooth boundary and one hole such that the second eigenfunction for the Laplacian with Neumann boundary conditions attains its maximum and minimum inside the domain.

We prove constant-curvature analogues of several results regarding the hot spots conjecture in dimension two. Our main theorem shows that the hot spots conjecture holds for all non-acute geodesic triangles of constant negative curvature. We…

We give an elementary new proof of the hot spots conjecture for L-shaped domains. This result, in addition to a new eigenvalue inequality, allows us to locate the hot spots in Swiss cross translation surfaces. We then prove, in several…

Let $D \subset \mathbb{R}^d$ be a bounded, connected domain with smooth boundary and let $-\Delta u = \mu_1 u$ be the first nontrivial eigenfunction of the Laplace operator with Neumann boundary conditions. We prove $$ \max_{x \in D} ~u(x)…

We prove a variant of Rauch's hot spots conjecture for hyperbolic planar domains with small Neumann or mixed Dirichlet-Neumann eigenvalues. We conclude, for instance, that on bounded convex domains in the hyperbolic plane with sufficiently…

We prove that on convex domains, first mixed Laplace eigenfunctions have no interior critical points if the Dirichlet region is connected and sufficiently small. We also find two seemingly new estimates on the first mixed eigenvalue to give…

Let $\Omega \subset \mathbb{R}^2$ be a bounded, convex domain and let $-\Delta \phi_1 = \mu_1 \phi_1$ be the first nontrivial Laplacian eigenfunction with Neumann boundary conditions. The Hot Spots conjecture claims that the maximum and…

The hot spots conjecture of J. Rauch states that the second Neumann eigenfunction of the Laplace operator on a bounded Lipschitz domain in $\mathbb{R}^n$ attains its extrema only on the boundary of the domain. We present an analogous…

We study the hot spots conjecture for domains in the Gaussian space $(\mathbb{R}^n, (2\pi)^{-n/2} e^{-|x|^2/2} dx)$ for $n \ge 2$. Given a bounded domain $\Omega$ with a piecewise smooth boundary, we consider the first nontrivial…

We review a recent new approach to the study of critical points of Laplacian eigenfunctions. Its core novelty is a non-standard variational principle for the eigenvalues of the Laplacians with Neumann and Dirichlet boundary conditions on…

We introduce a new variational principle for the study of eigenvalues and eigenfunctions of the Laplacians with Neumann and Dirichlet boundary conditions on planar domains. In contrast to the classical variational principles, its minimizers…

The second eigenfunction of the Neumann Laplacian on convex, planar domains is considered. Inspired by the famous hot spots conjecture and a related result of Steinerberger, we show that potential critical points of this eigenfunction (and,…

The maxima and minima of Neumann eigenfunctions of thin tubular neighbourhoods of curves on surfaces are located in terms of the maxima and minima of Neumann eigenfunctions of the underlying curves. In particular, the hot spots conjecture…

We show that the hot spots conjecture of J. Rauch holds for acute triangles if one of the angles is not larger than $\pi/6$. More precisely, we show that the second Neumann eigenfunction on those acute triangles has no maximum or minimum…

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…

The hot spots ratio of a domain $\Omega\subset \mathbb{R}^d$ measures the degree of failure of Rauch's hot spots conjecture on that domain. We identify the largest possible value of this ratio over all connected Lipschitz domains…

We prove the Hot Spot conjecture on the Vicsek set. Specifically, we show that every eigenfunction of the second smallest eigenvalue of the Neumann Laplacian on the Vicsek set attains its maximum and minimum on the boundary.

We use probabilistic tools based on Brownian motion and Feynman-Kac formulae to investigate the heat profile for the ground state Dirichlet and second Neumann eigenfunctions. Among other topics, we comment on supremum norm bounds for ground…