Tight Bounds for Tusnády's Problem in the Plane

Abstract

We show that the worst-case combinatorial discrepancy of $n$ points in the plane with respect to axis-parallel rectangles is $Θ(\log^{3/2}n)$. The known bounds were $Ω(\log n)$ and $O(\log^{3/2}n)$; we prove the matching lower bound. It holds for random point sets: for every $A>0$, there is a constant $c_A>0$ such that, with probability at least $1-e^{-An}$, every coloring of $n$ independent uniform points in the unit square has an anchored rectangle with imbalance at least $c_A(\log_2n)^{3/2}$. The proof is surprisingly simple and elementary. It reveals one coordinate digit by digit. With overwhelming probability over the points, the conditional gains of an oscillation potential add up to $Ω(\log^{3/2}n)$ over $Θ(\log n)$ digits. Bounded differences control the fluctuations well enough for a union bound over all colorings.