Description
We give a light talk on an optimality of a square in geometry and physics. First, we recollect classical geometric results that the square has the largest area (respectively, the smallest perimeter) among all rectangles of a given perimeter (respectively, area). Second, we recall that the square drum has the lowest fundamental tone among all rectangular drums of a given area or perimeter and reinterpret the result in a quantum-mechanical language of nanostructures. As the main body of the talk, we present our recent attempts to prove the same property in relativistic quantum mechanics, where the mathematical model is a matrix-differential (Dirac) operator with complex (infinite-mass) boundary conditions. It is frustrating that such an illusively simple and expected result remains unproved and out of the reach of current mathematical tools.
