Can one see the fundamental frequency of a drum? (Q2583210)

Let for some open \(\Omega\subset\mathbb{R}^n\), \(\lambda(\Omega)\) be the bottom of the spectrum of the Dirichlet Laplacian, \((-\Delta)_{\text{Dir}}\). In case of a bounded domain \(\Omega\) with sufficiently regular boundary \(\partial\Omega\), \(\lambda(\Omega)\) is the smallest eigenvalue; otherwise \[ \lambda(\Omega) = \inf\left\{\frac{\int_\Omega | \nabla u| ^2\,dx}{\int_\Omega | u| ^2\, dx} : u\in C^\infty_0(\Omega)\right\}. \] The main result of the paper, Theorem 1.1, gives estimates of the kind \[ c r^{-2}_{\Omega,\gamma} \leq \lambda(\Omega) \leq C r^{-2}_{\Omega,\gamma}, \] where \(\gamma\in (0,1)\) is arbitrary, \(r_{\Omega,\gamma}\) is the interior capacitary radius, that is, roughly speaking, the largest possible radius of a ball \(B_r\) such that the `rest' is \(\gamma\)-negligible (i.e., \(\text{cap}(\overline{B_r}\setminus\Omega) \leq \gamma \text{\,cap}(\overline{B_r})\)). The constants \(c\) and \(C\), depending on \(\gamma\) and \(n\), are calculated explicitly. As a consequence one obtains, for instance, that \(\lambda(\Omega) > 0\) if and only if \(r_{\Omega,\gamma}<\infty\). In other words, a necessary and sufficient condition for the strict positivity of \((-\Delta)_{\text{Dir}}\) is given in terms of the corresponding interior capacitary radius. The title of the paper, plainly inspired by the famous article [\textit{M. Kac}, Am. Math. Mon. 73, No. 4, Part II, 1--23 (1966; Zbl 0139.05603)], should be understood as the question whether one can recover the lowest eigenvalue of the Dirichlet Laplacian in \(\Omega\) by means of a `simple' visual image related to the domain (neglecting thus sets of small capacity). The present paper extends earlier observations of the authors [\textit{V. G. Maz'ya}, Vestn. Leningr. Univ. 1974, No.~7 (Mat. Mekh. Astron. No.~2), 33--40 (1974; Zbl 0278.31006) and \textit{V. Maz'ya} and \textit{M. Shubin}, ``Discreteness of spectrum and positivity criteria for Schrödinger operators'', Ann. Math. (2) 162, No. 2, 919--942 (2005; Zbl 1106.35043)]. In the last part of this interesting paper further consequences are discussed, e.g., by replacing the capacity by the Lebesgue measure, concerning the essential spectrum, or by regarding bounds for the spectra of Schrödinger operators.