No Arabic abstract
Let $K$ and $L$ be two convex bodies in $mathbb R^n$, $ngeq 2$, with $Lsubset text{int}, K$. We say that $L$ is an equichordal body for $K$ if every chord of $K$ tangent to $L$ has length equal to a given fixed value $lambda$. J. Barker and D. Larman proved that if $L$ is a ball, then $K$ is a ball concentric with $L$. In this paper we prove that there exist an infinite number of closed curves, different from circles, which possess an equichordal convex body. If the dimension of the space is more than or equal to 3, then only Euclidean balls possess an equichordal convex body. We also prove some results about isoptic curves and give relations between isoptic curves and convex rotors in the plane.
We define a set inner product to be a function on pairs of convex bodies which is symmetric, Minkowski linear in each dimension, positive definite, and satisfies the natural analogue of the Cauchy-Schwartz inequality (which is not implied by the other conditions). We show that any set inner product can be embedded into an inner product space on the associated support functions, thereby extending fundamental results of Hormander and Radstrom. The set inner product provides a geometry on the space of convex bodies. We explore some of the properties of that geometry, and discuss an application of these ideas to the reconstruction of ancestral ecological niches in evolutionary biology.
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.
Barker and Larman asked the following. Let $K subset {Bbb{R}}^d$ be a convex body, whose interior contains a given convex body $K subset {Bbb{R}}^d$, and let, for all supporting hyperplanes $H$ of $K$, the $(d-1)$-volumes of the intersections $K cap H$ be given. Is $K$ then uniquely determined? Yaskin and Zhang asked the analogous question when, for all supporting hyperplanes $H$ of $K$, the $d$-volumes of the caps cut off from $K$ by $H$ are given. We give local positive answers to both of these questions, for small $C^2$-perturbations of $K$, provided the boundary of $K$ is $C^2_+$. In both cases, $(d-1)$-volumes or $d$-volumes can be replaced by $k$-dimensional quermassintegrals for $1 le k le d-1$ or for $1 le k le d$, respectively. Moreover, in the first case we can admit, rather than hyperplane sections, sections by $l$-dimensional affine planes, where $1 le k le l le d-1$. In fact, here not all $l$-dimensional affine subspaces are needed, but only a small subset of them (actually, a $(d-1)$-manifold), for unique local determination of $K$.
The paper is devoted to coverings by translative homothets and illuminations of convex bodies. For a given positive number $alpha$ and a convex body $B$, $g_{alpha}(B)$ is the infimum of $alpha$-powers of finitely many homothety coefficients less than 1 such that there is a covering of $B$ by translative homothets with these coefficients. $h_{alpha}(B)$ 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 $alpha$. In this paper, we prove that $g_{alpha}(B)leq h_{alpha}(B)$, find upper and lower bounds for both numbers, and discuss several general conjectures. In particular, we show that $h_{alpha} (B) > 2^{d-alpha}$ for almost all $alpha$ and $d$ when $B$ is the $d$-dimensional cube, thus disproving the conjecture from Research Problems in Discrete Geometry by Brass, Moser, and Pach.
In this paper we investigate the existence of closed billiard trajectories in not necessarily smooth convex bodies. In particular, we show that if a body $Ksubset mathbb{R}^d$ has the property that the tangent cone of every non-smooth point $qin partial K$ is acute (in a certain sense) then there is a closed billiard trajectory in $K$.