The Double Queen Dido’s Problem

Abstract

This paper deals with a variation of the classical isoperimetric problem in dimension $N\ge 2$ for a two-phase piecewise constant density whose discontinuity interface is a given hyperplane. We introduce a weighted perimeter functional with three different weights, one for the hyperplane and one for each of the two open half-spaces in which $\mathbb{R}^N$ gets partitioned. We then consider the problem of characterizing the sets $\Omega$ that minimize this weighted perimeter functional under the additional constraint that the volumes of the portions of $\Omega$ in the two half-spaces are given. It is shown that the problem admits two kinds of minimizers, which will be called type I and type II, respectively. These minimizers are made of the union of two spherical domes whose angle of incidence satisfies some kind of \textquotedblleft Snell's law\textquotedblright. Finally, we provide a complete classification of the minimizers depending on the various parameters of the problem.