Improving constant in end-point Poincaré inequality on Hamming cube

Abstract

We improve the constant $\fracπ{2}$ in $L^1$-Poincaré inequality on Hamming cube. For Gaussian space the sharp constant in $L^1$ inequality is known, and it is $\sqrt{\fracπ{2}}$. For Hamming cube the sharp constant is not known, and $\sqrt{\fracπ{2}}$ gives an estimate from below for this sharp constant. On the other hand, L. Ben Efraim and F. Lust-Piquard have shown an estimate from above: $C_1\le \fracπ{2}$. There are at least two other independent proofs of the same estimate from above (we write down them in this note). Since those proofs are very different from the proof of Ben Efraim and Lust-Piquard but gave the same constant, that might have indicated that constant is sharp. But here we give a better estimate from above, showing that $C_1$ is strictly smaller than $\fracπ{2}$. It is still not clear whether $C_1> \sqrt{\fracπ{2}}$. We discuss this circle of questions and the computer experiments.