A class of non-convex polytopes that admit no orthonormal basis of exponentials (Q1397193)

A bounded measurable set \(\Omega\subset\mathbb{R}^d\) of measure 1 is called spectral if the Hilbert space \(L^2(\Omega)\) has an orthonormal basis consisting of exponentials \(e_\lambda(x)= \exp(2\pi i\langle\lambda, x\rangle)\). A conjecture of \textit{B. Fuglede} [J. Funct. Anal. 16, 101--121 (1974; Zbl 0279.47014)] claims that \(\Omega\) can tile \(\mathbb{R}^d\) by translation if and only if it is spectral. This conjecture has been verified in a number of cases, but in full generality it is open in both directions. The authors show that, if \(\Omega\) is a not necessarily convex polytope, with the property that, for some direction \(\xi\in S^{d-1}\), the area of the facets of \(\Omega\) with outer normal \(\xi\) exceeds that of the facets with outer normal \(-\xi\), then \(\Omega\) is not spectral. This accords with the (almost obvious) fact that \(\Omega\) cannot tile \(\mathbb{R}^d\) by translation. As a consequence, a spectral convex polytope must be centrally symmetric; this is well known for a translation tile.