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Abstract We consider the inequality $$f \geqslant f\star f$$ for real functions in $$L^1({\mathbb{R}}^d)$$ where $$f\star f$$ denotes the convolution of $$f$$ with itself. We show that all such functions $$f$$ are nonnegative, which is not the case for the same inequality in $L^p$ for any $$1 < p \leqslant 2$$, for which the convolution is defined. We also show that all solutions in $$L^1({\mathbb{R}}^d)$$ satisfy $$\int _{{\mathbb{R}}^{\textrm{d}}}f(x)\ \textrm{d}x \leqslant \tfrac 12$$. Moreover, if $$\int _{{\mathbb{R}}^{\textrm{d}}}f(x)\ \textrm{d}x = \tfrac 12$$, then $$f$$ must decay fairly slowly: $$\int _{{\mathbb{R}}^{\textrm{d}}}|x| f(x)\ \textrm{d}x = \infty $$, and this is sharp since for all $r< 1$, there are solutions with $$\int _{{\mathbb{R}}^{\textrm{d}}}f(x)\ \textrm{d}x = \tfrac 12$$ and $$\int _{{\mathbb{R}}^{\textrm{d}}}|x|^r f(x)\ \textrm{d}x <\infty $$. However, if $$\int _{{\mathbb{R}}^{\textrm{d}}}f(x)\ \textrm{d}x =: a < \tfrac 12$$, the decay at infinity can be much more rapid: we show that for all $$a<\tfrac 12$$, there are solutions such that for some $$\varepsilon>0$$, $$\int _{{\mathbb{R}}^{\textrm{d}}}e^{\varepsilon |x|}f(x)\ \textrm{d}x < \infty $$. 

Abstract We consider a system of anisotropic plates in the three-dimensional continuum, interacting via purely hard core interactions. We assume that the particles have a finite number of allowed orientations. In a suitable range of densities, we prove the existence of a uni-axial nematic phase, characterized by long range orientational order (the minor axes are aligned parallel to each other, while the major axes are not) and no translational order. The proof is based on a coarse graining procedure, which allows us to map the plate model into a contour model, and in a rigorous control of the resulting contour theory, via Pirogov-Sinai methods.