Dilation volumes of sets of finite perimeter

This paper analyzes the first order behavior (that is, the right sided derivative) of the volume of the dilation $A\oplus tQ$ as $t$ converges to zero. Here $A$ and $Q$ are subsets of $n$-dimensional Euclidean space, $A$ has finite perimeter and $Q$ is finite. If $Q$ consists of two points only, $x$ and $x+u$, say, this derivative coincides up to sign with the directional derivative of the covariogram of $A$ in direction $u$. By known results for the covariogram, this derivative can therefore be expressed by the cosine transform of the surface area measure of $A$. We extend this result to finite sets $Q$ and use it to determine the derivative of the contact distribution function with finite structuring element of a stationary random set at zero. The proofs are based on approximation of the characteristic function of $A$ by smooth functions of bounded variation and showing corresponding formulas for them.