Measurable circle squaring

Edge subsets with special properties (factorization, matching, partitioning, covering and packing, etc.) (05C70) Classes of sets (Borel fields, (sigma)-rings, etc.), measurable sets, Suslin sets, analytic sets (28A05) Length, area, volume, other geometric measure theory (28A75) Dissections and valuations (Hilbert's third problem, etc.) (52B45)

Abstract: Laczkovich proved that if bounded subsets

A

and

B

of

R^{k}

have the same non-zero Lebesgue measure and the box dimension of the boundary of each set is less than

k

, then there is a partition of

A

into finitely many parts that can be translated to form a partition of

B

. Here we show that it can be additionally required that each part is both Baire and Lebesgue measurable. As special cases, this gives measurable and translation-only versions of Tarski's circle squaring and Hilbert's third problem.

Review text

Two sets \(A,B\subseteq\mathbb{R}^k\) are called equidecomposable if there are a partition \(A=A_1\cup\cdots\cup A_n\) (into finitely many parts) and isometries \(\gamma_1,\dots,\gamma_n\) of \(\mathbb{R}^k\) such that the images of the parts \(\gamma_1(A_1),\dots,\gamma_n(A_n)\) partition \(B\). The sets \(A,B\subseteq\mathbb{R}^k\) are called equivalent if they are equidecomposable using translations. A question by Tarski in 1925 asks if the disk and the square in \(\mathbb{R}^2\) of the same area are equidecomposable. Different answers, by assuming different properties of the parts or the used transformations have been given (see the introduction of the paper under review for an extensive account on this). The authors broaden these answers by proving that the square and the disc (with the same area) are equivalent and the sets of the partition are Baire and Lebesgue measurable. The result follows from the main result of the paper, which states that for \(k\geq 1\), if \(A,B\subset\mathbb{R}^k\) are bounded sets with nonempty interior with the same Lebesgue measure, \(\dim_{\square}(\partial A)<k\) and \(\dim_{\square}(\partial B)<k\), then \(A\) and \(B\) are equivalent with parts that are both Baire and Lebesgue measurable. Here \(\dim_{\square}(X)\) denotes the box (or grid or upper Minkowski) dimension of \(X\subset\mathbb{R}^n\). The question if the parts can be taken as Borel sets has been recently proved by \textit{A. S. Marks} and \textit{S. T. Unger} [ibid. 186, No. 2, 581--605 (2017; Zbl 1400.03064)]. To prove the result, the authors first reduce the problem to the torus and use there some results of \textit{M. Laczkovich} [Rend. Ist. Mat. Univ. Trieste 23, 145--176 (1991; Zbl 0801.28001)]. Laczkovich has proved that the answer to Tarski question is affirmative and that the square and circle of the same area are equivalent but the pieces need not be measurable. Infinite bipartite graphs are also used.

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