Singularity models for the Bernoulli free boundary problem from isoparametric hypersurfaces

Abstract

We develop a general construction of homogeneous solutions to the Bernoulli free boundary problem, as well as general extremal domains on the sphere, from isoparametric foliations of the sphere. Our construction produces rich families of infinitely many new examples with sophisticated topologies connected to minimal surfaces of the sphere by smooth families of interpolating capillary surfaces, which include novel singularity models in low dimensions and recover most known homogeneous one-phase solutions. We also introduce a geometric representation for every such homogeneous map and establish a geometric rigidity theorem: for every prescribed isoparametric foliation, and in particular for cohomogeneity-one subgroups of $O(n)$, its radial geometry uniquely determines the corresponding homogeneous solution. Finally, we study the density of the constructed solutions and conjecture that the lowest density among non-flat cones in a given dimension $n \geq 5$ is attained by an $O(k) \times O(n-k)$-invariant cone.