Plane Sections of Convex Bodies of Maximal Volume

Let K = {K ₀ ,... ,K _k } be a family of convex bodies in R ⁿ , 1≤ k≤ n-1 . We prove, generalizing results from [9], [10], [13], and [14], that there always exists an affine k -dimensional plane A _k (subset, dbl equals) R ⁿ , called a common maximal k-transversal of K , such that, for each i∈ {0,... ,k} and each x∈ R ⁿ , where V _k is the k -dimensional Lebesgue measure in A _k and A _k +x . Given a family K = {K _i } _i=0 ^l of convex bodies in R ⁿ , l < k , the set C _k ( K ) of all common maximal k -transversals of K is not only nonempty but has to be ``large' both from the measure theoretic and the topological point of view. It is shown that C <sub>k</sub> ( K ) cannot be included in a ν -dimensional C <sup>1</sup> submanifold (or more generally in an ( H <sup>ν</sup> , ν) -rectifiable, H <sup>ν</sup> -measurable subset) of the affine Grassmannian AGr <sub>n,k</sub> of all affine k -dimensional planes of R <sup>n</sup> , of O(n+1) -invariant ν -dimensional (Hausdorff) measure less than some positive constant c <sub>n,k,l</sub> , where ν = (k-l)(n-k) . As usual, the ``affine' Grassmannian AGr _n,k is viewed as a subspace of the Grassmannian Gr _n+1,k+1 of all linear (k+1) -dimensional subspaces of R ⁿ⁺¹ . On the topological side we show that there exists a nonzero cohomology class θ∈ H ^n-k (G _n+1,k+1 ;Z ₂ ) such that the class θ ^l+1 is concentrated in an arbitrarily small neighborhood of C _k ( K ) . As an immediate consequence we deduce that the Lyusternik—Shnirel'man category of the space C _k ( K ) relative to Gr _n+1,k+1 is ≥ k-l . Finally, we show that there exists a link between these two results by showing that a cohomologically ``big' subspace of Gr _n+1,k+1 has to be large also in a measure theoretic sense. Received May 22, 1998, and in revised form March 27, 2000. Online publication September 22, 2000.