The odd-dimensional Sylvester Hadamard discrepancy conjecture

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Let HkH_k be the 2k×2k2^k\times2^k Hadamard matrix obtained by the Sylvester construction, so H0=1H_0=1 and Hk=H1⊗Hk−1H_k=H_1\otimes H_{k-1}. For x∈±12kx\in\\{\pm1\\}^{2^k}, define disc⁡(Hk)=inf⁡x∣Hkx∣∞\operatorname{disc}(H_k)=\inf_x\\|H_kx\\|_\infty. Sylvester Hadamard discrepancy conjecture. For odd kk,

disc⁡(Hk)=22k.\operatorname{disc}(H_k)=\sqrt2\sqrt{2^k}.

The even-kk case is settled by the construction in the source, while the odd case remains open. If true, this would imply the preceding infinite-family lower-bound conjecture.

References

Primary source

Afonso S. Bandeira, Anastasia Kireeva, Antoine Maillard and Almut Rödder, “Randomstrasse101: Open Problems of 2024”, arXiv:2504.20539 (2025).

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