The Euclidean ball does not maximize the distance to the first Fourier zero for fixed volume in any dimension above one; 12+-sided regular polygons beat the disk in the plane, and bipyramids make the quantity unbounded for d≥3.
A computer-assisted counterexample to the planar Pompeiu and Schiffer conjectures
3 Pith papers cite this work. Polarity classification is still indexing.
abstract
The planar Pompeiu problem, originating in 1929, and the associated Schiffer conjecture are long-standing rigidity questions linking rigid-motion integral transforms and Fourier zero sets to overdetermined Neumann eigenvalue problems. We construct a bounded simply connected noncircular domain $\Omega\subset\mathbb{R}^2$ with real-analytic Jordan boundary and a nonconstant function $u$ such that $(\Delta+k^2)u=0$ in $\Omega$, $u=1,\partial_\nu u=0$ on $\partial\Omega $ for some $k\in(31.967007261,31.967007293)$. Thus $u$ is a Neumann eigenfunction which is constant on the boundary, and $\Omega$ is a counterexample to Schiffer's conjecture. Green's identity also gives $\widehat{\mathbf 1_\Omega}(k\omega)=0$ $(\omega\in\mathbb S^1)$, so $\Omega$ fails the Pompeiu property and is also a counterexample to the planar Pompeiu conjecture for bounded simply connected Lipschitz domains. We obtain the domain as $\Omega=\phi(\mathbb{D})$, where $\phi$ is a ten-fold symmetric conformal map close to an explicitly listed polynomial of degree $301$. On the unit disc, the analytic problem becomes a cubic operator equation on real coefficient spaces, $F(g,p)=g+|p|^2(1+Kg)=0$, where $K$, expressed in a disk-polynomial basis, is an explicit inverse of the Laplacian on the range compatible with zero Dirichlet and Neumann traces, and $p=k\phi'$. Positivity of the disk-polynomial linearisation coefficients, sharp bounds for $K$, and monotone control of the infinite tails establish an a posteriori contraction near the listed polynomial in a weighted coefficient algebra, and hence an exact zero of $F$.
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2026 3roles
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Infinitely many non-ball planar domains carry Neumann eigenfunctions that are constant on the boundary, so Schiffer's and Pompeiu's conjectures are false in R^2.
A certified computer proof constructs a non-circular, 26-fold-symmetric planar domain carrying a sign-changing Helmholtz eigenfunction with zero Dirichlet and constant nonzero Neumann boundary data, disproving the unrestricted planar Berenstein conjecture.
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An isoperimetric problem for Fourier zeros of centrally symmetric convex bodies
The Euclidean ball does not maximize the distance to the first Fourier zero for fixed volume in any dimension above one; 12+-sided regular polygons beat the disk in the plane, and bipyramids make the quantity unbounded for d≥3.
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Counterexamples to Schiffer's Conjecture
Infinitely many non-ball planar domains carry Neumann eigenfunctions that are constant on the boundary, so Schiffer's and Pompeiu's conjectures are false in R^2.
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A computer-assisted counterexample to the planar Berenstein conjecture
A certified computer proof constructs a non-circular, 26-fold-symmetric planar domain carrying a sign-changing Helmholtz eigenfunction with zero Dirichlet and constant nonzero Neumann boundary data, disproving the unrestricted planar Berenstein conjecture.