An optimization problem for finite point interaction families

Abstract: We consider the spectral problem for a family of $N$ point interactions of the same strength confined to a manifold with a rotational symmetry, a circle or a sphere, and ask for configurations that optimize the ground state energy of the corresponding singular Schr\"odinger operator. In case of the circle the principal eigenvalue is sharply maximized if the point interactions are distributed at equal distances. The analogous question for the sphere is much harder and reduces to a modification of Thomson problem; we have been able to indicate the unique maximizer configurations for $N=2,\,3,\,4,\,6,\,12$. We also discuss the optimization for one-dimensional point interactions on an interval with periodic boundary conditions. We show that the equidistant distributions give rise to maximum ground state eigenvalue if the interactions are attractive, in the repulsive case we get the same result for weak and strong coupling and we conjecture that it is valid generally.