Serrin's Overdetermined Problem and Constant Mean Curvature Surfaces

For all $N \geq 9$, we find smooth entire epigraphs in $\R^N$, namely smooth domains of the form $\Omega : = \{x\in \R^N\ / \ x_N > F (x_1,\ldots, x_{N-1})\}$, which are not half-spaces and in which a problem of the form $\Delta u + f(u) = 0$ in $\Omega$ has a positive, bounded solution with 0 Dirichlet boundary data and constant Neumann boundary data on $\partial \Omega$. This answers negatively for large dimensions a question by Berestycki, Caffarelli and Nirenberg \cite{bcn2}. In 1971, Serrin \cite{serrin} proved that a bounded domain where such an overdetermined problem is solvable must be a ball, in analogy to a famous result by Alexandrov that states that an embedded compact surface with constant mean curvature (CMC) in Euclidean space must be a sphere. In lower dimensions we succeed in providing examples for domains whose boundary is close to large dilations of a given CMC surface where Serrin's overdetermined problem is solvable.Comment: 59 page

Unified Flavor Symmetry from warped dimensions

We propose a scenario which accommodates all the masses and mixings of the SM fermions in a model of warped extra-dimensions with all matter fields in the bulk. In this scenario, the same flavor symmetric structure is imposed on all the fermions of the Standard Model (SM), including neutrinos. Due to the exponential sensitivity on bulk fermion masses, a small breaking of the symmetry can be greatly enhanced and produce seemingly un-symmetric hierarchical masses and small mixing angles among the charged fermion zero-modes (SM quarks and charged leptons) and wash-out the obvious effects of the symmetry. With the Higgs field leaking into the bulk, and Dirac neutrinos sufficiently localized towards the UV boundary, the neutrino mass hierarchy and flavor structure will still be largely dominated by the fundamental flavor structure. The neutrino sector would then reflect the fundamental flavor structure, whereas the quark sector would probe the effects of the flavor symmetry breaking sector. As an example, we explore these features in the context of a family permutation symmetry imposed in both quark and lepton sectors.Comment: 5 pages, 1 figur