Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 December 2019
Given a smooth compact hypersurface $M$ with boundary
$\unicode[STIX]{x1D6F4}=\unicode[STIX]{x2202}M$, we prove the existence of a sequence
$M_{j}$ of hypersurfaces with the same boundary as
$M$, such that each Steklov eigenvalue
$\unicode[STIX]{x1D70E}_{k}(M_{j})$ tends to zero as
$j$ tends to infinity. The hypersurfaces
$M_{j}$ are obtained from
$M$ by a local perturbation near a point of its boundary. Their volumes and diameters are arbitrarily close to those of
$M$, while the principal curvatures of the boundary remain unchanged.