On spectral minimal partitions II, the case of the rectangle
This is an incremental theoretical contribution to spectral geometry, extending prior work on minimal partitions for specific rectangle aspect ratios.
The paper studies spectral minimal 3-partitions for rectangles, identifying a transition at aspect ratio sqrt(3/8) between nodal and non-nodal partitions, and uses Aharonov-Bohm Hamiltonians and double coverings to address isospectrality questions arising from numerical analysis.
In continuation of \cite{HHOT}, we discuss the question of spectral minimal 3-partitions for the rectangle $]-\frac a2,\frac a2[\times ] -\frac b2,\frac b2[ $, with $0< a\leq b$. It has been observed in \cite{HHOT} that when $0<\frac ab < \sqrt{\frac 38}$ the minimal 3-partition is obtained by the three nodal domains of the third eigenfunction corresponding to the three rectangles $]-\frac a2,\frac a2[\times ] -\frac b2,-\frac b6[$, $]-\frac a2,\frac a2[\times ] -\frac b6,\frac b6[$ and $]-\frac a2,\frac a2[\times ] \frac b6, \frac b2[$. We will describe a possible mechanism of transition for increasing $\frac ab$ between these nodal minimal 3-partitions and non nodal minimal 3-partitions at the value $ \sqrt{\frac 38}$ and discuss the existence of symmetric candidates for giving minimal 3-partitions when $ \sqrt{\frac 38}<\frac ab \leq 1$. Numerical analysis leads very naturally to nice questions of isospectrality which are solved by introducing Aharonov-Bohm Hamiltonians or by going on the double covering of the punctured rectangle.