On vanishing near corners of transmission eigenfunctions

Abstract

Let $\Omega$ be a bounded domain in $\mathbb{R}^n$, $n\geq 2$, and $V\in L^\infty(\Omega)$ be a potential function. Consider the following transmission eigenvalue problem for nontrivial $v, w\in L^2(\Omega)$ and $k\in\mathbb{R}_+$, \[(\Delta+k^2)v= 0 \quad \text{in } \Omega,\] \[(\Delta+k^2(1+V))w= 0 \quad \text{in } \Omega,\] \[w-v \in H^2_0(\Omega), \quad \lVert v \rVert_{L^2(\Omega)}=1. \] We show that the transmission eigenfunctions $v$ and $w$ carry the geometric information of $\mathrm{supp}(V)$. Indeed, it is proved that $v$ and $w$ vanish near a corner point on $\partial \Omega$ in a generic situation where the corner possesses an interior angle less than $\pi$ and the potential function $V$ does not vanish at the corner point. This is the first quantitative result concerning the intrinsic property of transmission eigenfunctions and enriches the classical spectral theory for Dirichlet/Neumann Laplacian. We also discuss its implications to inverse scattering theory and invisibility.