A symmetry theorem in two-phase heat conductors

Abstract

We consider the Cauchy problem for the heat diffusion equation in the whole Euclidean space consisting of two media with different constant conductivities, where initially one medium has temperature 0 and the other has temperature 1. Under the assumptions that one medium is bounded and the interface is of class $ C^{2, \alpha} $, we show that if the interface is stationary isothermic, then it must be a sphere. The method of moving planes due to Serrin is directly utilized to prove the result.

Keywords

• heat diffusion equation
• two-phase heat conductors
• cauchy problem
• stationary isothermic surface
• method of moving planes
• transmission conditions