Geometry of the magnetic Steklov problem on Riemannian annuli

Abstract: We study the geometry of the first two eigenvalues of a magnetic Steklov problem on an annulus $\Sigma$ (a compact Riemannian surface with genus zero and two boundary components), the magnetic potential being the harmonic one-form having flux $\nu\in\mathbb R$ around any of the two boundary components. The resulting spectrum can be seen as a perturbation of the classical, non-magnetic Steklov spectrum, obtained when $\nu=0$ and studied e.g., by Fraser and Schoen. We obtain sharp upper bounds for the first and the second normalized eigenvalues and we discuss the geometry of the maximisers. Concerning the first eigenvalue, we isolate a noteworthy class of maximisers which we call $\alpha$-surfaces: they are free-boundary surfaces which are stationary for a weighted area functional (depending on the flux) and have proportional principal curvatures at each point; in particular, they belong to the class of linear Weingarten surfaces. We then study the second normalized eigenvalue for a fixed flux $\nu$ and prove the existence of a maximiser for rotationally invariant metrics. Moreover, the corresponding eigenfunctions define a free-boundary immersion in the unit ball of $\mathbb R^3$. Finally, we prove that the second normalized eigenvalue associated to a flux $\nu$ has an absolute maximum when $\nu=0$, the corresponding maximiser being the critical catenoid.