Illuminating Spindle Convex Bodies and Minimizing the Volume of Spherical Sets of Constant Width

A subset of the d-dimensional Euclidean space having nonempty interior is called a spindle convex body if it is the intersection of (finitely or infinitely many) congruent d-dimensional closed balls. The spindle convex body is called a “fat” one, if it contains the centers of its generating balls. The core part of this paper is an extension of Schramm’s theorem and its proof on illuminating convex bodies of constant width to the family of “fat” spindle convex bodies. Also, this leads to the spherical analog of the well-known Blaschke–Lebesgue problem.     

On Gaussian Marginals of Uniformly Convex Bodies

Recently, Bo’az Klartag showed that arbitrary convex bodies have Gaussian marginals in most directions. We show that Klartag’s quantitative estimates may be improved for many uniformly convex bodies. These include uniformly convex bodies with power type 2, and power type p>2 with some additional type condition. In particular, our results apply to all unit-balls of subspaces of quotients of L _p for 1<p<∞. The same is true when L _p is replaced by S _p ^m , the l _p -Schatten class space. We also extend our results to arbitrary uniformly convex bodies with power type p, for 2≤p<4. These results are obtained by putting the bodies in (surprisingly) non-isotropic positions and by a new concentration of volume observation for uniformly convex bodies. Supported in part by BSF and ISF.     

Some inequalities for Gaussian processes and applications

We present a generalization of Slepian's lemma and Fernique's theorem. We show how these can be easily applied to give a new proof, with improved estimates, of Dvoretzky’s theorem on the existence of “almost” spherical sections for arbitrary convex bodies inR ^N, while avoiding the isoperimetric inequality. Supported by Technion V.P.R. grant #100–526, and fund for the promotion of research at the Technion #100–559.     

Gemischte volumina in Kanalscharen

A canal class of convex bodies inn-dimensional Euclidean space consists of all convex bodies which have the same orthogonal projection on some hyperplane. In such a canal class, improved versions of the general Brunn-Minkowski theorem and of the Aleksandrov-Fenchel inequalities for mixed volumes are valid. Partial results on the equality cases are obtained. As an application, a translation theorem of the Aleksandrov-Fenchel-Jessen type is proved.     

Rate of Approximation of Regular Convex Bodies by?Convex Algebraic Level Surfaces

We consider the problem of the approximation of regular convex bodies in ℝ ^d by level surfaces of convex algebraic polynomials. Hammer (in Mathematika 10, 67–71, 1963) verified that any convex body in ℝ ^d can be approximated by a level surface of a convex algebraic polynomial. In Jaen J. Approx. 1, 97–109, 2009 and subsequently in J. Approx. Theory 162, 628–637, 2010 a quantitative version of Hammer’s approximation theorem was given by showing that the order of approximation of convex bodies by convex algebraic level surfaces of degree n is \frac1n\frac{1}{n}. Moreover, it was also shown that whenever the convex body is not regular (that is, there exists a point on its boundary at which the convex body possesses two distinct supporting hyperplanes), then \frac1n\frac{1}{n} is essentially the sharp rate of approximation. This leads to the natural question whether this rate of approximation can be improved further when the convex body is regular. In this paper we shall give an affirmative answer to this question. It turns out that for regular convex bodies a o(1/n) rate of convergence holds. In addition, if the body satisfies the condition of C ²-smoothness the rate of approximation is O(\frac1n²)O(\frac{1}{n^{2}}).     

Hessian measures of semi-convex functions and applications to support measures of convex bodies

This paper originates from the investigation of support measures of convex bodies (sets of positive reach), which form a central subject in convex geometry and also represent an important tool in related fields. We show that these measures are absolutely continuous with respect to Hausdorff measures of appropriate dimensions, and we determine the Radon-Nikodym derivatives explicitly on sets of σ-finite Hausdorff measure. The results which we obtain in the setting of the theory of convex bodies (sets of positive reach) are achieved as applications of various new results on Hessian measures of convex (semi-convex) functions. Among these are a Crofton formula, results on the absolute continuity of Hessian measures, and a duality theorem which relates the Hessian measures of a convex function to those of the conjugate function. In particular, it turns out that curvature and surface area measures of a convex body K are the Hessian measures of special functions, namely the distance function and the support function of K. Received: 15 July 1999     

A characterization of parallelepipeds related to weak derivatives

Summary We characterize parallelepipeds in R^m within the family of all convex bodies by a property of special measures on its boundary. We show that these measures are related to weak derivatives (in the sense of [5] and [8]) of convex-valued functions. The results can be applied (see [9]) to derive a generalization of a theorem of Lehmann (see [4]) on the comparison of uniform location experiments.     

On transfer inequalities in Diophantine approximation, II

Let Θ be a point in R ⁿ . We are concerned with the approximation to Θ by rational linear subvarieties of dimension d for 0 ≤ d ≤ n−1. To that purpose, we introduce various convex bodies in the Grassmann algebra Λ(R ⁿ⁺¹). It turns out that our convex bodies in degree d are the dth compound, in the sense of Mahler, of convex bodies in degree one. A dual formulation is also given. This approach enables us both to split and to refine the classical Khintchine transference principle.     

Geometric Tomography of Convex Cones

The parallel X-ray of a convex set K⊂ℝ ⁿ in a direction u is the function that associates to each line l, parallel to u, the length of K∩l. The problem of finding a set of directions such that the corresponding X-rays distinguish any two convex bodies has been widely studied in geometric tomography. In this paper we are interested in the restriction of this problem to convex cones, and we are motivated by some applications of this case to the covariogram problem. We prove that the determination of a cone by parallel X-rays is equivalent to the determination of its sections from a different type of tomographic data (namely, point X-rays of a suitable order). We prove some new results for the corresponding problem which imply, for instance, that convex polyhedral cones in ℝ³ are determined by parallel X-rays in certain sets of two or three directions. The obtained results are optimal.     

Entropy and the combinatorial dimension

We solve Talagrand’s entropy problem: the L ₂-covering numbers of every uniformly bounded class of functions are exponential in its shattering dimension. This extends Dudley’s theorem on classes of {0,1}-valued functions, for which the shattering dimension is the Vapnik-Chervonenkis dimension. In convex geometry, the solution means that the entropy of a convex body K is controlled by the maximal dimension of a cube of a fixed side contained in the coordinate projections of K. This has a number of consequences, including the optimal Elton’s Theorem and estimates on the uniform central limit theorem in the real valued case. Oblatum 10-XII-2001 & 4-IX-2002?Published online: 8 November 2002     

Non-Commutative Carathéodory Interpolation

We prove a Carathéodory–Fejér type interpolation theorem for certain matrix convex sets in \mathbbC^d{\mathbb{C}^d} using the Blecher–Ruan–Sinclair characterization of abstract operator algebras. Our results generalize the work of Dmitry S. Kalyuzhnyĭ-Verbovetzkiĭ for the d-dimensional non-commutative polydisc.     

Affine images of the rhombo-dodecahedron that are circumscribed about a three-dimensional convex body

The main result of the paper is dual to the author's earlier theorem on the affine images of the cube-octahedron (the convex hull of the midpoints of edges of a cube) inscribed in a three-dimensional convex body. The rhombododecahedron is the polyhedron dual to the cube-octahedron. Let us call a convex body in Κ⊂ℝ³ exceptional if it contains a parallelogram P and is contained in a cylinder with directrix P. It is proved that any nonexceptional convex body is inscribed in an affine image of the rhombo-dodecahedron. The author does not know if the assertion is true for all three-dimensional convex bodies. Bibliography: 2 titles. Translated from Zapiski Nauchnykh Seminarov POMI, Vol. 246, 1997, pp. 191–195. Translated by N. Yu. Netsvetaev.     

The geometry of p-convex intersection bodies

Busemann's theorem states that the intersection body of an origin-symmetric convex body is also convex. In this paper we provide a version of Busemann's theorem for p-convex bodies. We show that the intersection body of a p-convex body is q-convex for certain q. Furthermore, we discuss the sharpness of the previous result by constructing an appropriate example. This example is also used to show that IK, the intersection body of K, can be much farther away from the Euclidean ball than K. Finally, we extend these theorems to some general measure spaces with log-concave and s-concave measures.     

Norm order and geometric properties of holomorphic mappings in\mathbb{C}^n

We introduce a new notion of the order of a linear invariant family of locally biholomorphic mappings on then-ball. This order, which we call the norm order, is defined in terms of the norm rather than the trace of the “second Taylor coefficient operator” of mappings in a family. Sharp bounds on ‖Df(z)‖ and ‖f(z)‖, a general covering theorem for arbitrary LIFs and results about convexity, starlikeness, injectivity and other geometric properties of mappings given in terms of the norm order illustrate the useful nature of this notion. The norm order has a much broader range of influence on the geometric properties of mappings than does the “trace” order that the present authors and many others have used in recent years.     

A Heuristic for the Prime Number Theorem

Conclusion  Might there be a chance of proving in a simple way thatx/π(x) is asymptotic to an increasing function, thus getting another proof of PNT? This is probably wishful thinking. However, there is a natural candidate for the increasing function. LetL(x) be the upper convex hull of the full graph ofxπ(x) (precise definition to follow). The piecewise linear functionL(x) is increasing becausex/π(x) → ∞ asx → ∞. Moreover, using PNT, we can give a proof thatL(x) is indeed asymptotic tox/π(x). But the point of our work in this article is that for someone who wishes to understand why the growth of primes is governed by natural logarithms, a reasonable approach is to convince oneself via computation that the convex hull just mentioned satisfies the hypothesis of our theorem, and then use the relatively simple proof to show that this hypothesis rigorously implies the prime number theorem.     

AnF-space with trivial dual where the Krein-Milman theorem holds

We show that in certain non-locally convex Orlicz function spacesL _ϕ with trivial dual every compact convex set is locally convex and hence the Krein-Milman theorem holds. This complements the example constructed by Roberts of a compact convex set without extreme points inL _p (0<p<1) and answers a question raised by Shapiro.     

Path-closed sets

Given a digraphG = (V, E), call a node setT ⊆V path-closed ifv, v′ εT andw εV is on a path fromv tov′ impliesw εT. IfG is the comparability graph of a posetP, the path-closed sets ofG are the convex sets ofP. We characterize the convex hull of (the incidence vectors of) all path-closed sets ofG and its antiblocking polyhedron inR ^v , using lattice polyhedra, and give a minmax theorem on partitioning a given subset ofV into path-closed sets. We then derive good algorithms for the linear programs associated to the convex hull, solving the problem of finding a path-closed set of maximum weight sum, and prove another min-max result closely resembling Dilworth’s theorem.     

Convex Sets in Acyclic Digraphs

A non-empty set X of vertices of an acyclic digraph is called connected if the underlying undirected graph induced by X is connected and it is called convex if no two vertices of X are connected by a directed path in which some vertices are not in X. The set of convex sets (connected convex sets) of an acyclic digraph D is denoted by and its size by co(D) (cc(D)). Gutin et al. (2008) conjectured that the sum of the sizes of all convex sets (connected convex sets) in D equals Θ(n · co(D)) (Θ(n · cc(D))) where n is the order of D. In this paper we exhibit a family of connected acyclic digraphs with and . We also show that the number of connected convex sets of order k in any connected acyclic digraph of order n is at least n − k + 1. This is a strengthening of a theorem of Gutin and Yeo.     

Contractions of infrainvariant systems of subgroups

We create a method which allows an arbitrary group G with an infrainvariant system ℒ(G) of subgroups to be embedded in a group G* with an infrainvariant system ℒ(G*) of subgroups, so that G _α^* ∩G ∈ ℒ(G) for every subgroup G _α^* ∩G ∈ ℒ(G*) and each factor B/A of a jump of subgroups in ℒ(G*) is isomorphic to a factor of a jump in ℒ(G), or to any specified group H. Using this method, we state new results on right-ordered groups. In particular, it is proved that every Conrad right-ordered group is embedded with preservation of order in a Conrad right-ordered group of Hahn type (i.e., a right-ordered group whose factors of jumps of convex subgroups are order isomorphic to the additive group ℝ); every right-ordered Smirnov group is embedded in a right-ordered Smirnov group of Hahn type; a new proof is given for the Holland–McCleary theorem on embedding every linearly ordered group in a linearly ordered group of Hahn type.     

Inequalities for mixed p-affine surface area

We prove new Alexandrov-Fenchel type inequalities and new affine isoperimetric inequalities for mixed p-affine surface areas. We introduce a new class of bodies, the illumination surface bodies, and establish some of their properties. We show, for instance, that they are not necessarily convex. We give geometric interpretations of L _p affine surface areas, mixed p-affine surface areas and other functionals via these bodies. The surprising new element is that not necessarily convex bodies provide the tool for these interpretations.