Longest minimal length partition conjecture

Let d2d\geq 2, let vdv_d denote the volume of the unit ball in Rd\mathbb{R}^d, and let ΩRd\Omega\subset\mathbb{R}^d be a domain. For c(0,1)c\in(0,1), let L(Ω,c)L(\Omega,c) be the minimal length of a partition of Ω\Omega into two regions of prescribed volumes cΩc|\Omega| and (1c)Ω(1-c)|\Omega|. For n>1n>1 and c=(ci)i=1nR+n{\mathbf c}=(c_i)_{i=1}^n\in\mathbb{R}^n_+ with i=1nci=1\sum_{i=1}^n c_i=1, let PL(Ω,c)PL(\Omega,{\mathbf c}) be the minimal perimeter of a partition into nn regions with prescribed volume fractions cic_i.

Longest minimal length partition conjecture. Given c(0,1)c\in(0,1), the set Ω\Omega maximizing L(Ω,c)L(\Omega,c) under the constraint Ω=vd|\Omega|=v_d is the ball. Given n>1n>1 and c=(ci)i=1nR+n{\mathbf c}=(c_i)_{i=1}^n\in\mathbb{R}^n_+ with i=1nci=1\sum_{i=1}^n c_i=1, the set Ω\Omega maximizing PL(Ω,c)PL(\Omega,{\mathbf c}) under the constraint Ω=vd|\Omega|=v_d is the ball.

The conjecture extends the equal-area results to partitions with prescribed, possibly unequal, volumes. Numerical simulations suggest that the disk in two dimensions and the ball in three dimensions maximize the minimal partition length or perimeter, but the general assertion remains open.

Sources & referencesView supporting material

Primary source

Beniamin Bogosel and Edouard Oudet, “Longest minimal length partitions”, arXiv:2102.02891 (2021).

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