A Brunn--Minkowski inequality and Convexity for the 2-Hessian eigenvalue in convex domains

Abstract

We prove the strict log-concavity of the positive first eigenfunction \(-u\) of the \(2\)-Hessian equation and the strict $1/2$-convexity of the solution for the corresponding torsion problem in smooth bounded uniformly convex domains in $\mathbb{R}^{n}$. As applications, we establish the associated Brunn--Minkowski inequalities. We also show that this transformed-convexity phenomenon fails for \(3\)-Hessian equations by constructing, in dimension four, a smooth uniformly convex domain whose admissible zero-boundary solution has a nonconvex sublevel set.