# Theorem 1

Non-symmetric convex domains Illinois J. Math., to appear have no basis of exponentials   

Mihail N. Kolountzakis<sup>1</sup><sup>1</sup>1 Department of Mathematics, 1409 W. Green St, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL 61801, USA. E-mail: kolount@math.uiuc.edu<sup>2</sup><sup>2</sup>2Partially supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation, under grant DMS 97-05775.<sup>3</sup><sup>3</sup>3Current address: Department of Mathematics, University of Crete, 714 09 Iraklio, GREECE. E-mail: kolount@math.uch.gr   

December 1998; revised October 1999   

## Abstract

A conjecture of Fuglede states that a bounded measurable set $`\mathrm{\Omega }^d`$, of measure $`1`$, can tile $`^d`$ by translations if and only if the Hilbert space $`L^2(\mathrm{\Omega })`$ has an orthonormal basis consisting of exponentials $`e_\lambda (x)=\mathrm{exp}2\pi i\lambda ,x`$. If $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ has the latter property it is called spectral. We generalize a result of Fuglede, that a triangle in the plane is not spectral, proving that every non-symmetric convex domain in $`^d`$ is not spectral.

§0. Introduction

Let $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ be a measurable subset of $`^d`$ of measure $`1`$ and $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ be a discrete subset of $`^d`$. We write

$`e_\lambda (x)`$ $`=`$ $`\mathrm{exp}2\pi i\lambda ,x,(x^d),`$   
$`E_\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ $`=`$ $`\{e_\lambda :\lambda \mathrm{\Lambda }\}L^2(\mathrm{\Omega }).`$   
The inner product and norm on $`L^2(\mathrm{\Omega })`$ are

$$f,g_\mathrm{\Omega }=_\mathrm{\Omega }f\overline{g},\text{ and }f_\mathrm{\Omega }^2=_\mathrm{\Omega }\left|f\right|^2.$$

Definition 1  The pair $`(\mathrm{\Omega },\mathrm{\Lambda })`$ is called a spectral pair if $`E_\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ is an orthonormal basis for $`L^2(\mathrm{\Omega })`$. A set $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ will be called spectral if there is $`\mathrm{\Lambda }^d`$ such that $`(\mathrm{\Omega },\mathrm{\Lambda })`$ is a spectral pair. The set $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ is then called a spectrum of $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$. 

Example: If $`Q_d=(1/2,1/2)^d`$ is the cube of unit volume in $`^d`$ then $`(Q_d,^d)`$ is a spectral pair.

We write $`B_R(x)=\{y^d:\left|xy\right|<R\}`$.  Definition 2  (Density)   
(i) The set $`\mathrm{\Lambda }^d`$ has uniformly bounded density if for each $`R>0`$ there exists a constant $`C>0`$ such that $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ has at most $`C`$ elements in each ball of radius $`R`$ in $`^d`$.   
(ii) The set $`\mathrm{\Lambda }^d`$ has density $`\rho `$, and we write $`\rho =\mathrm{dens}\mathrm{\Lambda }`$, if we have

$$\rho =\underset{R\mathrm{}}{lim}\frac{\left|\mathrm{\Lambda }B_R(x)\right|}{\left|B_R(x)\right|},$$

uniformly for all $`x^d`$. 

We define translational tiling for complex-valued functions below.  Definition 3  Let $`f:^d`$ be measurable and $`\mathrm{\Lambda }^d`$ be a discrete set. We say that $`f`$ tiles with $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ at level $`\mathrm{w}`$, and sometimes write “$`f+\mathrm{\Lambda }=w^d`$”, if

$$\underset{\lambda \mathrm{\Lambda }}{}f(x\lambda )=w,\text{for almost every (Lebesgue) }x^d,$$
(1)   
with the sum above converging absolutely a.e. If $`\mathrm{\Omega }^d`$ is measurable we say that $`\mathrm{\Omega }+\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ is a tiling when $`\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{\Omega }+\mathrm{\Lambda }=w^d`$, for some $`w`$. If $`w`$ is not mentioned it is understood to be equal to $`1`$. 

Remarks   
1. If $`fL^1(^d)`$ and $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ has uniformly bounded density one can easily show (see \[KL96\] for the proof in one dimension, which works in higher dimension as well) that the sum in (1) converges absolutely a.e. and defines a locally integrable function of $`x`$.   
2. In the very common case when $`fL^1(^d)`$ and $`_^df0`$ the condition that $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ has uniformly bounded density follows easily from (1) and need not be postulated a priori.   
3. It is easy to see that if $`fL^1(^d)`$, $`_^df0`$ and $`f+\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ is a tiling then $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ has a density and the level of the tiling $`w`$ is given by

$$w=_^df\mathrm{dens}\mathrm{\Lambda }.$$

From now on we restrict ourselves to tiling with functions in $`L^1`$ and sets of finite measure.

Example: $`Q_d+^d`$ is a tiling.

The following conjecture is still unresolved.

Conjecture: (Fuglede \[F74\]) If $`\mathrm{\Omega }^d`$ is bounded and has Lebesgue measure $`1`$ then $`L^2(\mathrm{\Omega })`$ has an orthonormal basis of exponentials if and only if there exists $`\mathrm{\Lambda }^d`$ such that $`\mathrm{\Omega }+\mathrm{\Lambda }=^d`$ is a tiling.

Remark: It is not hard to show \[F74\] that $`L^2(\mathrm{\Omega })`$ has a basis $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ which is a lattice (i.e., $`\mathrm{\Lambda }=A^d`$, where $`A`$ is a non-singular $`d\times d`$ matrix) if and only if $`\mathrm{\Omega }+\mathrm{\Lambda }^{}`$ is a tiling. Here

$$\mathrm{\Lambda }^{}=\{\mu ^d:\mu ,\lambda ,\lambda \mathrm{\Lambda }\}$$

is the dual lattice of $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ (we have $`\mathrm{\Lambda }^{}=A^{}^d`$).

Fuglede \[F74\] showed that the disk and the triangle in $`^2`$ are not spectral domains.

In this note we prove the following generalization of Fuglede’s triangle result.

###### Theorem 1

Let $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ have measure $`1`$ and be a convex, non-symmetric, bounded open set in $`^d`$. Then $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ is not spectral.

The set $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ is called symmetric with respect to $`0`$ if $`y\mathrm{\Omega }`$ implies $`y\mathrm{\Omega }`$, and symmetric with respect to $`x_0^d`$ if $`y\mathrm{\Omega }`$ implies that $`2x_0y\mathrm{\Omega }`$. It is called non-symmetric if it is not symmetric with respect to any $`x_0^d`$. For example, in any dimension a simplex is non-symmetric.

It is known \[V54, M80\] that every convex body that tiles $`^d`$ by translation is a centrally symmetric polytope and that each such body also admits a lattice tiling and, therefore (see the remark after Fuglede’s conjecture above), its $`L^2`$ admits a lattice spectrum. Given Theorem 1, to prove Fuglede’s conjecture restricted to convex domains, one still has to prove that any symmetric convex body that is not a tile admits no orthonormal basis of exponentials for its $`L^2`$.

In §1 we derive some necessary and some sufficient conditions for $`f+\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ to be a tiling. These conditions roughly state that tiling is equivalent to a certain tempered distribution, associated with $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ being “supported” on the zero set of $`\widehat{f}`$ plus the origin. Similar conditions had been derived in \[KL96\] but here we have to work with less smoothness for $`\widehat{f}`$. To compensate for the lack of smoothness we work with compactly supported $`\widehat{f}`$ and nonnegative $`f`$ and $`\widehat{f}`$, conditions which are fulfilled for our problem.

In §1 we restate the property that $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ is spectral as a tiling problem for $`\left|\widehat{\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{\Omega }}\right|^2`$ and use the conditions derived in §1 to prove Theorem 1. What makes the proof work is that when $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ is a non-symmetric convex set the set $`\mathrm{\Omega }\mathrm{\Omega }`$ has volume strictly larger than $`2^d\mathrm{vol}\mathrm{\Omega }`$.

§1. Fourier-analytic conditions for tiling

Our method relies on a Fourier-analytic characterization of translational tiling, which is a variation of the one used in \[KL96\]. We define the (generally unbounded) measure

$$\delta _\mathrm{\Lambda }=\underset{\lambda \mathrm{\Lambda }}{}\delta _\lambda ,$$

where $`\delta _\lambda `$ represents a unit mass at $`\lambda ^d`$. If $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ has uniformly bounded density then $`\delta _\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ is a tempered distribution (see for example \[R73\]) and therefore its Fourier Transform $`\widehat{\delta _\mathrm{\Lambda }}`$ is defined and is itself a tempered distribution.

The action of a tempered distribution (see \[R73\]) $`\alpha `$ on a Schwartz function $`\varphi `$ is denoted by $`\alpha (\varphi )`$. The Fourier Transform of $`\alpha `$ is defined by the equation

$$\widehat{\alpha }(\varphi )=\alpha (\widehat{\varphi }).$$

The support $`\mathrm{supp}\alpha `$ is the smallest closed set $`F`$ such that for any smooth $`\varphi `$ of compact support contained in the open set $`F^c`$ we have $`\alpha (\varphi )=0`$.

###### Theorem 2

Suppose that $`f0`$ is not identically $`0`$, that $`fL^1(^d)`$, $`\widehat{f}0`$ has compact support and $`\mathrm{\Lambda }^d`$. If $`f+\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ is a tiling then

$$\mathrm{supp}\widehat{\delta _\mathrm{\Lambda }}\{x^d:\widehat{f}(x)=0\}\left\{0\right\}.$$
(2)   
Proof of Theorem 2. Assume that $`f+\mathrm{\Lambda }=w^d`$ and let

$$K=\left\{\widehat{f}=0\right\}\left\{0\right\}.$$

We have to show that

$$\widehat{\delta _\mathrm{\Lambda }}(\varphi )=0,\varphi C_c^{\mathrm{}}(K^c).$$

Since $`\widehat{\delta _\mathrm{\Lambda }}(\varphi )=\delta _\mathrm{\Lambda }(\widehat{\varphi })`$ this is equivalent to $`_{\lambda \mathrm{\Lambda }}\widehat{\varphi }(\lambda )=0`$, for each such $`\varphi `$. Notice that $`h=\varphi /\widehat{f}`$ is a continuous function, but not necessarily smooth. We shall need that $`\widehat{h}L^1`$. This is a consequence of a well-known theorem of Wiener \[R73, Ch. 11\]. We denote by $`𝕋^d=^d/^d`$ the $`d`$-dimensional torus.  Theorem  (Wiener)   
If $`gC(𝕋^d)`$ has an absolutely convergent Fourier series

$$g(x)=\underset{n^d}{}\widehat{g}(n)e^{2\pi in,x},\widehat{g}\mathrm{}^1(^d),$$

and if $`g`$ does not vanish anywhere on $`𝕋^d`$ then $`1/g`$ also has an absolutely convergent Fourier series.  Assume that

$$\mathrm{supp}\varphi ,\mathrm{supp}\widehat{f}(\frac{L}{2},\frac{L}{2})^d.$$

Define the function $`F`$ to be:   
(i) periodic in $`^d`$ with period lattice $`(L)^d`$,   
(ii) to agree with $`\widehat{f}`$ on $`\mathrm{supp}\varphi `$,   
(iii) to be non-zero everywhere and,   
(iv) to have $`\widehat{F}\mathrm{}^1(^d)`$, i.e.,

$$\widehat{F}=\underset{n^d}{}\widehat{F}(n)\delta _{L^1n},$$

is a finite measure in $`^d`$.

One way to define such an $`F`$ is as follows. First, define the $`(L)^d`$-periodic function $`g0`$ to be $`\widehat{f}`$ periodically extended. The Fourier coefficients of $`g`$ are $`\widehat{g}(n)=L^df(n/L)0`$. Since $`g,\widehat{g}0`$ and $`g`$ is continuous at $`0`$ it is easy to prove that $`_{n^d}\widehat{g}(n)=g(0)`$, and therefore that $`g`$ has an absolutely convergent Fourier series.

Let $`ϵ`$ be small enough to guarantee that $`\widehat{f}`$ (and hence $`g`$) does not vanish on $`(\mathrm{supp}\varphi )+B_ϵ(0)`$. Let $`k`$ be a smooth $`(L)^d`$-periodic function which is equal to $`1`$ on $`(\mathrm{supp}\varphi )+(L^d)`$ and equal to $`0`$ off $`(\mathrm{supp}\varphi +B_ϵ(0))+(L^d)`$, and satisfies $`0k1`$ everywhere. Finally, define

$$F=kg+(1k).$$

Since both $`k`$ and $`g`$ have absolutely summable Fourier series and this property is preserved under both sums and products, it follows that $`F`$ also has an absolutely summable Fourier series. And by the nonnegativity of $`g`$ we get that $`F`$ is never $`0`$, since $`k=0`$ on $`Z(\widehat{f})+(L^d)`$.

By Wiener’s theorem, $`\widehat{F^1}\mathrm{}^1(^d)`$, i.e., $`\widehat{F^1}`$ is a finite measure on $`^d`$. We now have that

$$\left(\frac{\varphi }{\widehat{f}}\right)^{}=\widehat{\varphi F^1}=\widehat{\varphi }\widehat{F^1}L^1(^d).$$

This justifies the interchange of the summation and integration below:

$`{\displaystyle \underset{\lambda \mathrm{\Lambda }}{}}\widehat{\varphi }(\lambda )`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{\lambda \mathrm{\Lambda }}{}}\left({\displaystyle \frac{\varphi }{\widehat{f}}}\widehat{f}\right)^{}(\lambda )`$   
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{\lambda \mathrm{\Lambda }}{}}\left({\displaystyle \frac{\varphi }{\widehat{f}}}\right)^{}\widehat{\widehat{f}}(\lambda )`$   
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{\lambda \mathrm{\Lambda }}{}}{\displaystyle _^d}\left({\displaystyle \frac{\varphi }{\widehat{f}}}\right)^{}(y)f(y\lambda )𝑑y`$   
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle _^d}\left({\displaystyle \frac{\varphi }{\widehat{f}}}\right)^{}(y){\displaystyle \underset{\lambda \mathrm{\Lambda }}{}}f(y\lambda )dy`$   
$`=`$ $`w{\displaystyle _^d}\left({\displaystyle \frac{\varphi }{\widehat{f}}}\right)^{}(y)𝑑y`$   
$`=`$ $`w{\displaystyle \frac{\varphi }{\widehat{f}}}(0)`$   
$`=`$ $`0,`$   
as we had to show.   
$`\mathrm{}`$

For a set $`A^d`$ and $`\delta >0`$ we write

$$A_\delta =\{x^d:\mathrm{dist}(x,A)<\delta \}.$$

We shall need the following partial converse to Theorem 2.

###### Theorem 3

Suppose that $`fL^1(^d)`$, and that $`\mathrm{\Lambda }^d`$ has uniformly bounded density. Suppose also that $`O^d`$ is open and

$$\mathrm{supp}\widehat{\delta _\mathrm{\Lambda }}\left\{0\right\}O\text{ and }O_\delta \left\{\widehat{f}=0\right\},$$
(3)   
for some $`\delta >0`$. Then $`f+\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ is a tiling at level $`\widehat{f}(0)\widehat{\delta _\mathrm{\Lambda }}(\left\{0\right\})`$.

Proof. Let $`\psi :^d`$ be smooth, have support in $`B_1(0)`$ and $`\widehat{\psi }(0)=1`$ and for $`ϵ>0`$ define the approximate identity $`\psi _ϵ(x)=ϵ^d\psi (x/ϵ)`$. Let

$$f_ϵ=\widehat{\psi _ϵ}f,$$

which has rapid decay.

First we show that $`(f_ϵ)^1f_ϵ+\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ is a tiling. That is, we show that the convolution $`f_ϵ\delta _\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ is a constant. Let $`\varphi `$ be any Schwartz function. Then

$$f_ϵ\delta _\mathrm{\Lambda }(\varphi )=\widehat{f_ϵ}\widehat{\delta _\mathrm{\Lambda }}(\widehat{\varphi }(x))=\widehat{\delta _\mathrm{\Lambda }}(\widehat{\varphi }(x)\widehat{f_ϵ}).$$

The function $`\widehat{\varphi }(x)\widehat{f_ϵ}`$ is a Schwartz function whose support intersects $`\mathrm{supp}\widehat{\delta _\mathrm{\Lambda }}`$ only at $`0`$, since, for small enough $`ϵ>0`$,

$$\mathrm{supp}\widehat{\varphi }\widehat{f_ϵ}\mathrm{supp}\widehat{f_ϵ}(\mathrm{supp}\widehat{f})_ϵO^c.$$

Hence, for each Schwartz function $`\varphi `$

$$f_ϵ\delta _\mathrm{\Lambda }(\varphi )=\widehat{\varphi }(0)\widehat{f_ϵ}(0)\widehat{\delta _\mathrm{\Lambda }}(\left\{0\right\}),$$

which implies

$$f_ϵ\delta _\mathrm{\Lambda }(x)=\widehat{f_ϵ}(0)\widehat{\delta _\mathrm{\Lambda }}(\left\{0\right\}),\text{a.e.(}x\text{)}.$$

We also have that $`_{\lambda \mathrm{\Lambda }}\left|f(x\lambda )\right|`$ is finite a.e. (see Remark 1 following the definition of tiling), hence, for almost every $`x^d`$

$$\underset{\lambda \mathrm{\Lambda }}{}\left|f(x\lambda )f_ϵ(x\lambda )\right|=\underset{\lambda \mathrm{\Lambda }}{}\left|f(x\lambda )\right|\left|1\widehat{\psi _ϵ}(x\lambda )\right|,$$

which tends to $`0`$ as $`ϵ0`$. This proves

$$\underset{\lambda \mathrm{\Lambda }}{}f(x\lambda )=\widehat{f}(0)\widehat{\delta _\mathrm{\Lambda }}(\left\{0\right\}),\text{a.e.(}x\text{)}.$$

$`\mathrm{}`$

§2. Proof of the main result

We now make some remarks that relate the property of $`E_\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ being a basis for $`L^2(\mathrm{\Omega })`$ to a certain function tiling $`^d`$ with $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$.

Assume that $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ is a bounded open set of measure $`1`$. Notice first that

$$e_\lambda ,e_x_\mathrm{\Omega }=\widehat{\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{\Omega }}(x\lambda ).$$

The set $`E_\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ is an orthonormal basis for $`L^2(\mathrm{\Omega })`$ if and only if for each $`fL^2(\mathrm{\Omega })`$

$$f_\mathrm{\Omega }^2=\underset{\lambda \mathrm{\Lambda }}{}\left|e_\lambda ,f_\mathrm{\Omega }\right|^2,$$

and, by the completeness of the exponentials in $`L^2`$ of a large cube containing $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$, it is necessary and sufficient that

$$\underset{\lambda \mathrm{\Lambda }}{}\left|\widehat{\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{\Omega }}(x\lambda )\right|^2=1,$$
(4)   
for each $`x^d`$. In other words a necessary and sufficient condition for $`(\mathrm{\Omega },\mathrm{\Lambda })`$ to be a spectral pair is that $`\left|\widehat{\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{\Omega }}\right|^2+\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ is a tiling at level $`1`$. Notice also that $`\left|\widehat{\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{\Omega }}\right|^2`$ is the Fourier Transform of $`\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{\Omega }\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{\Omega }}`$ which has support equal to the set $`\overline{\mathrm{\Omega }\mathrm{\Omega }}`$. We use the notation $`\stackrel{~}{f}(x)=\overline{f(x)}`$.

Proof of Theorem 1: Write $`K=\mathrm{\Omega }\mathrm{\Omega }`$, which is a symmetric, open convex set. Assume that $`(\mathrm{\Omega },\mathrm{\Lambda })`$ is a spectral pair. We can clearly assume that $`0\mathrm{\Lambda }`$. It follows that $`\left|\widehat{\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{\Omega }}\right|^2+\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ is a tiling and hence that $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ has uniformly bounded density, has density equal to $`1`$ and $`\widehat{\delta _\mathrm{\Lambda }}(\left\{0\right\})=1.`$

By Theorem 2 (with $`f=\left|\widehat{\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{\Omega }}\right|^2,\widehat{f}=\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{\Omega }\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{\Omega }}(x)`$) it follows that

$$\mathrm{supp}\widehat{\delta _\mathrm{\Lambda }}\left\{0\right\}K^c.$$

Let $`H=K/2`$ and write

$$f(x)=\mathrm{𝟏}_H\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{𝟏}_H}(x)=_^d\mathrm{𝟏}_H(y)\mathrm{𝟏}_H(yx)𝑑y.$$

The function $`f`$ is supported in $`\overline{K}`$ and has nonnegative Fourier Transform

$$\widehat{f}=\left|\widehat{\mathrm{𝟏}_H}\right|^2.$$

We have

$$_^d\widehat{f}=f(0)=\mathrm{vol}H$$

and

$$\widehat{f}(0)=_^df=(\mathrm{vol}H)^2.$$

By the Brunn-Minkowski inequality (see for example \[G94, Ch. 3\]), for any convex body $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$,

$$\mathrm{vol}\frac{1}{2}(\mathrm{\Omega }\mathrm{\Omega })\mathrm{vol}\mathrm{\Omega },$$

with equality only in the case of symmetric $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$. Since $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ has been assumed to be non-symmetric it follows that

$$\mathrm{vol}H>1.$$

For

$$1>\rho >\left(\frac{1}{\mathrm{vol}H}\right)^{1/d}$$

consider

$$g(x)=f(x/\rho )$$

which is supported properly inside $`K`$, and has

$$g(0)=f(0)=\mathrm{vol}H,_^dg=\rho ^d_^df=\rho ^d(\mathrm{vol}H)^2.$$

Since $`\mathrm{supp}g`$ is properly contained in $`K`$ Theorem 3 implies that $`\widehat{g}+\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ is a tiling at level $`\widehat{g}\mathrm{dens}\mathrm{\Lambda }=\widehat{g}=g(0)=\mathrm{vol}H`$. However, the value of $`\widehat{g}`$ at $`0`$ is $`g=\rho ^d(\mathrm{vol}H)^2>\mathrm{vol}H`$, and, since $`\widehat{g}0`$ and $`\widehat{g}`$ is continuous, this is a contradiction.   
$`\mathrm{}`$

§3. Bibliography