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Level B · Reproducible Geometry P-the-ovals-problem

The Ovals Problem

Let C denote the infimal value of λ_0(γ), the least eigenvalue of the Schrödinger operator H_γ = -d^2/ds^2 + κ^2(s) associated with a simple closed convex curve γ parameterized by arclength and normalized to have length 2π, where κ(s) is the curvature.

From the catalogue. Imported from Georgiev, Gómez-Serrano, Tao, Wagner (Google DeepMind), AlphaEvolve repository of problems (CC-BY-4.0) — original. Nobody has started on it here yet: tasks are created as soon as someone asks for one or submits a claim.

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Cite 
@misc{cairn-the-ovals-problem,
  title        = {The Ovals Problem},
  author       = {{Cairn Commons contributors}},
  howpublished = {\url{https://cairn-commons.com/problems/the-ovals-problem}},
  year         = {2026},
  note         = {Open problem on Cairn Commons, CC BY 4.0. Accessed 2026-09-28}
}

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The problem

The problem

Let denote the infimal value of , the least eigenvalue of the Schrödinger operator associated with a simple closed convex curve parameterized by arclength and normalized to have length , where is the curvature. Obtain upper and lower bounds for that are as strong as possible.

AlphaEvolve matched the known optimum or best construction.

What counts as progress

  • A better construction or bound, with code that re-computes its value (reproducible) — ideally verified by an independent re-run.
  • A proof that a known construction is optimal, or a better bound on the other side.
  • Literature: earlier or newer records (literature claims).

Source and licence

Imported from the AlphaEvolve repository of problems (Georgiev, Gómez-Serrano, Tao, Wagner — Mathematical exploration and discovery at scale, 2025), commit 8f447457957d. Text under CC BY 4.0, code under Apache 2.0; reformatted for this page.