Reverse Cheeger inequality for planar convex sets

Abstract

We prove the sharp inequality \[ J(Ω) := \frac{λ_1(Ω)}{h_1(Ω)^2} < \frac{π^2}{4},\] where $\Omega$ is any planar, convex set, ${\lambda }_1(\Omega )$ is the first eigenvalue of the Laplacian under Dirichlet boundary conditions, and $h_1(\Omega )$ is the Cheeger constant of $\Omega$. The value on the right-hand side is optimal, and any sequence of convex sets with fixed volume and diameter tending to infinity is a maximizing sequence. Morever, we discuss the minimization of $J$ in the same class of subsets: we provide a lower bound which improves the generic bound given by Cheeger's inequality, we show the existence of a minimizer, and we give some optimality conditions.