The vanishing of the fundamental gap of convex domains in \(\mathbb{H}^n\) (Q2118821)

The authors investigate the fundamental gap \(\lambda_2(\Omega)-\lambda_1(\Omega)\) for the Dirichlet Laplacian on a convex bounded domain \(\Omega\) of the hyperbolic space \(\mathbb{H}^n\). If \(\mathbb{H}^n\) is replaced by \(\mathbb{R}^n\) or \(\mathbb{S}^n\), then it is known that \(\lambda_2(\Omega)-\lambda_1(\Omega) \geq 3\pi^2/D^2\), where \(D\) is the diameter of \(\Omega\). See [\textit{B. Andrews} and \textit{J. Clutterbuck}, J. Am. Math. Soc. 24, No. 3, 899--916 (2011; Zbl 1222.35130)] for the case of \(\mathbb{R}^n\) and [\textit{X. Dai} et al., Commun. Anal. Geom. 29, No. 5, 1095--1125 (2021; Zbl 07451601); \textit{C. He} et al., Am. J. Math. 142, No. 4, 1161--1191 (2020; Zbl 1446.52003)] for the case of \(\mathbb{S}^n\) with \(n=2\) and \(n \geq 3\), respectively. In contrast with the above results, the authors show that, in the hyperbolic space \(\mathbb{H}^n\), \(n \geq 2\), for any \(\epsilon>0\) and \(D>0\), there exists a convex domain \(\Omega\) with diameter \(D\) such that \(\lambda_2(\Omega)-\lambda_1(\Omega) \leq \epsilon \pi^2/D^2\). For readers convenience, rigorous and detailed construction is supplemented with heuristic arguments.