The hot spots conjecture for simply connected planar domains

What OpenAI claims

Proves a strict form of Burdzy's simply connected hot spots conjecture. On every smooth bounded simply connected planar domain, each nonzero eigenfunction for the first positive Neumann eigenvalue has no interior critical point, so all global extrema lie on the boundary. Eigenvalue multiplicity is allowed. (Lean)

Paper

1. Strict hot spots and absence of interior critical points on smooth simply connected planar domains

   24 September 2026 · Preprint, not peer reviewed · PDF

   OpenAI's abstract We prove the strict hot spots conjecture for smooth bounded simply connected planar domains. More precisely, every nonzero eigenfunction for the first positive Neumann eigenvalue has nonvanishing gradient in the interior, so all its global maxima and minima lie on the boundary. This holds even when the eigenvalue is multiple.

Status

Preprint. The paper has not been independently reviewed. Treat the result as OpenAI's claim until other mathematicians have checked it. If a video exists, it illustrates the statement; it is not the proof.