A Schiffer-type problem for annuli with applications to stationary planar Euler flows

Abstract

If on a smooth bounded domain $\Omega\subset\mathbb{R}^2$ there is a nonconstant Neumann eigenfunction $u$ that is locally constant on the boundary, must $\Omega$ be a disk or an annulus? This question can be understood as a weaker analog of the well known Schiffer conjecture, in that the function $u$ is allowed to take a different constant value on each connected component of $\partial \Omega$ yet many of the known rigidity properties of the original problem are essentially preserved. Our main result provides a negative answer by constructing a family of nontrivial doubly connected domains $\Omega$ with the above property. As a consequence, a certain linear combination of the indicator functions of the domains $\Omega$ and of the bounded component of the complement $\mathbb{R}^2\backslash\overline{\Omega}$ fails to have the Pompeiu property. Furthermore, our construction implies the existence of continuous, compactly supported stationary weak solutions to the 2D incompressible Euler equations which are not locally radial.