Isoperimetric relations between Dirichlet and Neumann eigenvalues

Inequalities between the Dirichlet and Neumann eigenvalues of the Laplacian have received much attention in the literature, but open problems abound. Here, we study the number of Neumann eigenvalues no greater than the first Dirichlet eigenvalue. Based on a combination of analytical and numerical results, we conjecture that this number is controlled by the isoperimetric ratio of the domain. This has applications to the nodal deficiency of eigenfunctions and is closely related to a long-standing conjecture of Yau on the Hausdorff measure of nodal sets.