Focal points and support functions in affine differential geometry

The notions of focal point and support function are considered for a nondegenerate hypersurfaceM ⁿ in affine spaceR ⁿ⁺¹ equipped with an equiaffine transversal field. IfM ⁿ is locally strictly convex, these two concepts are related via an Index theorem concerning the critical points of the support functions onM ⁿ . This is used to obtain characterizations of spheres and ellipsoids in terms of the critical point behavior of certain classes of affine support functions.Research supported by NSF Grant No. DMS-9101961.