Universal spectra and Tijdeman's conjecture on factorization of cyclic groups (Q5931802)

A universal spectrum for \({\mathcal T}\subseteq{\mathbb R}^n\) is a discrete set \(\Lambda\subseteq{\mathbb R}^n\) such that, if \(\Omega\subseteq{\mathbb R}^n\) is a Lebesgue measurable set of finite measure with \(\Omega+{\mathcal T}={\mathbb R}^n\) and \(\text{meas}((\Omega+t)\cap (\Omega+t'))=0\) whenever \(t\neq t'\) in \({\mathcal T}\), then \(\{f_{\lambda}\}_{\lambda\in\Lambda}\) is an orthogonal basis in \(L^2(\Omega)\), where \(f_{\lambda}(x)=\exp(2\pi i\langle\lambda,x\rangle)\). On the other hand, for \(m\geq 1\), a factorization of the cyclic group \({\mathbb Z}/m{\mathbb Z}\) is a pair \((A,B)\), where \(A,B\subseteq\{0,1,\dots,m-1\}\) and each \({\widetilde g}\in{\mathbb Z}/m{\mathbb Z}\) can be uniquely written as \({\widetilde g}={\widetilde a}+{\widetilde b}\) with \({\widetilde a}\in A+m{\mathbb Z}(\subseteq{\mathbb Z}/m{\mathbb Z})\) and \({\widetilde b}\in B+m{\mathbb Z}(\subseteq{\mathbb Z}/m{\mathbb Z})\). It was conjectured by \textit{J. C. Lagarias} and \textit{Y. Wang} [J. Funct. Anal. 145, No. 1, 73-98 (1997; Zbl 0898.47002)] that, if \(m\geq 1\) and \({\mathbb Z}/m{\mathbb Z}\) has a factorization \((A,B)\), then \({\mathcal T}:={\mathbb Z}+(1/m)A(\subseteq{\mathbb R})\) has a universal spectrum. One proved that conjecture in the cited paper under the assumption that a certain number theoretic conjecture holds for \(m\). The smallest known counterexample to this last conjecture had been \(m=5400\). The first theorem of the paper under review shows that number theoretic conjecture also fails for \(m=900\). However, one then proves that the counterexample obtained in this way does not contradict the above mentioned universal spectrum conjecture of Lagarias and Wang.