Fourier transform, null variety, and Laplacian's eigenvalues (Q837074)

Let \(\Omega\) be a bounded open domain in \(\mathbb R^d\). For \({\mathbf x}=(x_1, \dots, x_d) \in\mathbb R^d\), let \(\chi_\Omega({\mathbf x})=1\) if \({\mathbf x}\in \Omega\), otherwise \(\chi_\Omega({\mathbf x})=0\); \(\widehat{\chi_\Omega} (\xi) := \int_\Omega e^{i \xi \cdot x} \,dx\) be the complex Fourier transform of \(\chi_\Omega({\mathbf x})\), \({\mathcal N}_{\mathcal C}(\Omega):= \{ \xi \in {\mathcal C}^d : \widehat{\chi_\Omega} (\xi) = 0 \} \) be the null set or complex null variety, and the real null variety is defined as \({\mathcal N} (\Omega):= {\mathcal N}_{\mathcal C}(\Omega) \cap\mathbb R^d\). The purpose of this paper is to study the behavior of the null variety near the origin, and its relation with the classical spectral theory. Let \(\lambda_k (\Omega)\), \(k = 1, 2, \dots\) be the eigenvalues of the Dirichlet Laplacian on \(\Omega\), \(\mu_j(\Omega)\), \(j = 1, 2, \dots\) be the positive Neumann Laplacian eigenvalues. Define the number \(\kappa (\Omega):= \text{dist} ({\mathcal N} (\Omega), 0)\) (\(\kappa (\Omega) = \infty\) if there are no real zeros). The authors first give two conjectures: \(\kappa (\Omega)\) is maximized, among all convex balanced \(\Omega\) of a fixed volume, by a ball; and that \(\kappa (\Omega) \leq \sqrt{\lambda_2(\Omega)}\) for all convex balanced \(\Omega\), where \(\Omega\) is balanced if \(\Omega\) is invariant under \({\mathbf x}\rightarrow -{\mathbf x}\). Several explicit examples are given to demonstrate the validity of these conjectures. Also some weaker forms in the two-dimensional case as well as their validity for domains asymptotically close to a disk are proved.