The Local Steiner Problem in Finite-Dimensional Normed Spaces

We develop a general method for proving that certain star configurations in finite-dimensional normed spaces are Steiner minimal trees. This method generalizes the results of Lawlor and Morgan (1994) that could only be applied to differentiable norms. The generalization uses the subdifferential calculus from convex analysis. We apply this method to two special norms. The first norm, occurring in the work of Cieslik, has unit ball the polar of the difference body of the n-simplex (in dimension 3 this is the rhombic dodecahedron). We determine the maximum degree of a given point in a Steiner minimal tree in this norm. The proof makes essential use of extremal finite set theory. The second norm, occurring in the work of Conger (1989), is the sum of the ℓ₁-norm and a small multiple of the ℓ₂ norm. For the second norm we determine the maximum degree of a Steiner point.