We investigate a duality relation between floating and illumination bodies. The definitions of these two bodies suggest that the polar of the floating body should be similar to the illumination body of the polar. We consider this question for the class of centrally symmetric convex bodies. We provide precise estimates for $(B_p^n)$ and for centrally symmetric convex bodies with everywhere positive Gauss curvature. Our estimates show that equality of the polar of the floating body and the illumination body of the polar can only be achieved in the case of ellipsoids.
We consider the question how well a floating body can be approximated by the polar of the illumination body of the polar. We establish precise convergence results in the case of centrally symmetric polytopes. This leads to a new affine invariant which is related to the cone measure of the polytope.
Let $K$ be a convex body in $\Bbb R^{d}$ and $K_{t}$ its floating bodies. There is a polytope with at most $n$ vertices that satisfies $$ K_{t} \subset P_{n} \subset K $$ where $$ n \leq e^{16d} \frac{vol_{d}(K \setminus K_{t})}{t\ vol_{d}(B_{2}^{d})} $$ Let $K^{t}$ be the illumination bodies of $K$ and $Q_{n}$ a polytope that contains $K$ and has at most $n$ $d-1$-dimensional faces. Then $$ vol_{d}(K^{t} \setminus K) \leq cd^{4} vol_{d}(Q_{n} \setminus K) $$ where $$ n \leq \frac{c}{dt} \ vol_{d}(K^{t} \setminus K) $$
We consider the following measure of symmetry of a convex n-dimensional body K: $ρ(K)$ is the smallest constant for which there is a point x in K such that for partitions of K by an n-1-dimensional hyperplane passing through x the ratio of the volumes of the two parts is at most $ρ(K)$. It is well known that $ρ(K)=1$ iff K is symmetric. We establish a precise upper bound on $ρ(K)$; this recovers a 1960 result of Grunbaum. We also provide a characterization of equality cases (relevant to recent results of Nill and Paffenholz about toric varieties) and relate these questions to the concept of co…
Let $K$ be a convex body in Euclidean space ${\mathbb R}^d$, and let a translation invariant, locally finite Borel measure on the space of hyperplanes in ${\mathbb R}^d$ be given. For $δ\ge 0$, we consider the set of all points $x$ for which the set of hyperplanes separating $K$ and $x$ has measure at most $δ$. This defines the separation body of $K$, with respect to the given measure and the parameter $δ$. Separation bodies are meant as conceptual duals to floating bodies, and they are expected to play a role in the investigation of random polytopes generated as intersections of random halfsp…
Ulam's problem 19 from the Scottish Book asks: {\it is a solid of uniform density which floats in water in every position necessarily a sphere?} We obtain several results related to this problem.
We study a new construction of bodies from a given convex body in $\mathbb{R}^{n}$ which are isomorphic to (weighted) floating bodies. We establish several properties of this new construction, including its relation to $p$-affine surface areas. We show that these bodies are related to Ulam's long-standing floating body problem which asks whether Euclidean balls are the only bodies that can float, without turning, in any orientation.
We study a long standing open problem by Ulam, which is whether the Euclidean ball is the unique body of uniform density which will float in equilibrium in any direction. We answer this problem in the class of origin symmetric n-dimensional convex bodies whose relative density to water is 1/2. For n=3, this result is due to Falconer.
We extend the notion of Ulam floating sets from convex bodies to Ulam floating functions. We use the Ulam floating functions to derive a new variational formula for the affine surface area of log-concave functions.
We investigate weighted floating bodies of polytopes. We show that the weighted volume depends on the complete flags of the polytope. This connection is obtained by introducing flag simplices, which translate between the metric and combinatorial structure. Our results are applied in spherical and hyperbolic space. This leads to new asymptotic results for polytopes in these spaces. We also provide explicit examples of spherical and hyperbolic convex bodies whose floating bodies behave completely different from any convex body in Euclidean space.
Asymptotic results for weighted floating bodies are established and used to obtain new proofs for the existence of floating areas on the sphere and in hyperbolic space and to establish the existence of floating areas in Hilbert geometries. Results on weighted best and random approximation and the new approach to floating areas are combined to derive new asymptotic approximation results on the sphere, in hyperbolic space and in Hilbert geometries.
Sorbonne Université, Université Paris Cité, CNRS, IMJ-PRG（索邦大学、巴黎西岱大学、法国国家科学研究中心、IMJ-PRG）；Technische Universität Wien（维也纳工业大学）；Case Western Reserve University（凯斯西储大学）
In this note we introduce the problem of illumination of convex bodies in spherical spaces and solve it for a large subfamily of convex bodies. We derive from it a combinatorial version of the classical illumination problem for convex bodies in Euclidean spaces as well as a solution to that for a large subfamily of convex bodies, which in dimension three leads to special Koebe polyhedra.
We carry out a systematic investigation on floating bodies in real space forms. A new unifying approach not only allows us to treat the important classical case of Euclidean space as well as the recent extension to the Euclidean unit sphere, but also the new extension of floating bodies to hyperbolic space. Our main result establishes a relation between the derivative of the volume of the floating body and a certain surface area measure, which we called the floating area. In the Euclidean setting the floating area coincides with the well known affine surface area, a powerful tool in the affine…
The conic sections, as well as the solids obtained by revolving these curves, and many of their surprising properties, were already studied by Greek mathematicians since at least the fourth century B.C. Some of these properties come to the light, or are rediscovered, from time to time. In this paper we characterize the conic sections as the plane curves whose tangent lines cut off from a certain similar curve segments of constant area. We also characterize some quadrics as the surfaces whose tangent planes cut off from a certain similar surface compact sets of constant volume. Our work is deve…
Covering numbers of convex bodies based on homothetical copies and related illumination numbers are well-known in combinatorial geometry and, for example, related to Hadwiger's famous covering problem. Similar numbers can be defined by using proper translates instead of homothets, and even more related concepts make sense. On these lines we introduce some new covering and illumination numbers of convex bodies, present their properties and compare them with each other as well as with already known numbers. Finally, some suggestive examples illustrate that these new illumination numbers are inte…
Let $n\geq C$ for a large universal constant $C>0$, and let $B$ be a convex body in $R^n$ such that for any $(x_1,x_2,\dots,x_n)\in B$, any choice of signs $\varepsilon_1,\varepsilon_2,\dots,\varepsilon_n\in\{-1,1\}$ and for any permutation $σ$ on $n$ elements we have $(\varepsilon_1x_{σ(1)},\varepsilon_2x_{σ(2)},\dots,\varepsilon_nx_{σ(n)})\in B$. We show that if $B$ is not a cube then $B$ can be illuminated by strictly less than $2^n$ sources of light. This confirms the Hadwiger--Gohberg--Markus illumination conjecture for unit balls of $1$-symmetric norms in $R^n$ for all sufficiently large…
Sorbonne Université（索邦大学）；Université Paris Cité（巴黎西岱大学）；CNRS（法国国家科学研究中心）；IMJ-PRG（让·勒朗德达朗贝尔数学与研究所）；University of Kiel（基尔大学）；Case Western Reserve University（凯斯西储大学）
We show that many well-known transforms in convex geometry (in particular, centroid body, convex floating body, and Ulam floating body) are special instances of a general construction, relying on applying sublinear expectations to random vectors in Euclidean space. We identify the dual representation of such convex bodies and describe a construction that serves as a building block for all so defined convex bodies.
In this note we prove two results on the quantitative illumination parameter f(d) of the unit ball of a d-dimensional normed space introduced by K. Bezdek (1992). The first is that f(d) = O(2^d d^2 log d). The second involves Steiner minimal trees. Let v(d) be the maximum degree of a vertex, and s(d) of a Steiner point, in a Steiner minimal tree in a d-dimensional normed space, where both maxima are over all norms. F. Morgan (1992) conjectured that s(d) <= 2^d, and D. Cieslik (1990) conjectured v(d) <= 2(2^d-1). We prove that s(d) <= v(d) <= f(d) which, combined with the above estimate of f(d)…
The convex hull of a ball with an exterior point is called a spike (or cap). A union of finitely many spikes of a ball is called a spiky ball. If a spiky ball is convex, then we call it a cap body. In this note we upper bound the illumination numbers of $2$-illuminable spiky balls as well as centrally symmetric cap bodies. In particular, we prove the Illumination Conjecture for centrally symmetric cap bodies in sufficiently large dimensions by showing that any $d$-dimensional centrally symmetric cap body can be illuminated by $<2^d$ directions in Euclidean $d$-space for all $d\geq 20$. Further…
The X-ray numbers of some classes of convex bodies are investigated. In particular, we give a proof of the X-ray Conjecture as well as of the Illumination Conjecture for almost smooth convex bodies of any dimension and for convex bodies of constant width of dimensions 3, 4, 5 and 6.
Covering a convex body by its homothets is a classical notion in discrete geometry that has resulted in a number of interesting and long-standing problems. Swanepoel introduced the covering parameter of a convex body as a means of quantifying its covering properties. In this paper, we introduce two relatives of the covering parameter called covering index and weak covering index, which upper bound well-studied quantities like the illumination number, the illumination parameter and the covering parameter of a convex body. Intuitively, the two indices measure how well a convex body can be covere…
We introduce the vertex index, vein(K), of a given centrally symmetric convex body K, which, in a sense, measures how well K can be inscribed into a convex polytope with small number of vertices. This index is closely connected to the illumination parameter of a body, introduced earlier by the first named author, and, thus, related to the famous conjecture in Convex Geometry about covering of a d-dimensional body by 2^d smaller positively homothetic copies. We provide asymptotically sharp estimates (up to a logarithmic term) of this index in the general case. Also, we provide sharp estimates i…
The paper is devoted to coverings by translative homothets and illuminations of convex bodies. For a given positive number $α$ and a convex body $B$, $g_α(B)$ is the infimum of $α$-powers of finitely many homothety coefficients less than 1 such that there is a covering of $B$ by translative homothets with these coefficients. $h_α(B)$ is the minimal number of directions such that the boundary of $B$ can be illuminated by this number of directions except for a subset whose Hausdorff dimension is less than $α$. In this paper, we prove that $g_α(B)\leq h_α(B)$, find upper and lower bounds for both…
A subset of a convex body $B$ containing the origin in a Euclidean space is {\it parkable in $B$} if it can be translated inside $B$ in such a manner that the translate the origin. We provide characterizations of ellipsoids and of centrally symmetric convex bodies in Euclidean spaces of dimension $\ge 3$ based on the notion of parkability, answering several questions posed by G. Bergman. The techniques used, which are based on characterizations of Hilbert spaces among finite-dimensional Banach spaces in terms of their lattices of subspaces and algebras of endomorphisms, also apply to improve a…
Let $K$ be a convex body in $\bbR^n$ and $\d>0$. The homothety conjecture asks: Does $K_{\d}=c K$ imply that $K$ is an ellipsoid? Here $K_{\d}$ is the (convex) floating body and $c$ is a constant depending on $\d$ only. In this paper we prove that the homothety conjecture holds true in the class of the convex bodies $B^n_p$, $1\leq p\leq \infty$, the unit balls of $l_p^n$; namely, we show that $(B^n_p)_{\d} = c B^n_p$ if and only if $p=2$. We also show that the homothety conjecture is true for a general convex body $K$ if $\d$ is small enough. This improvs earlier results by Schütt and Werner …
The aim of this note is to investigate the properties of the convex hull and the homothetic convex hull functions of a convex body $K$ in Euclidean $n$-space, defined as the volume of the union of $K$ and one of its translates, and the volume of $K$ and a translate of a homothetic copy of $K$, respectively, as functions of the translation vector. In particular, we prove that the convex hull function of the body $K$ does not determine $K$. Furthermore, we prove the equivalence of the polar projection body problem raised by Petty, and a conjecture of G.Horváth and Lángi about translative constan…
We define new natural variants of the notions of weighted covering and separation numbers and discuss them in detail. We prove a strong duality relation between weighted covering and separation numbers and prove a few relations between the classical and weighted covering numbers, some of which hold true without convexity assumptions and for general metric spaces. As a consequence, together with some volume bounds that we discuss, we provide a bound for the famous Levi-Hadwiger problem concerning covering a convex body by homothetic slightly smaller copies of itself, in the case of centrally sy…
