English

Nakajima's problem: convex bodies of constant width and constant brightness

Metric Geometry 2007-05-23 v1

Abstract

For a convex body KRnK\subset\R^n, the kkth projection function of KK assigns to any kk-dimensional linear subspace of Rn\R^n the kk-volume of the orthogonal projection of KK to that subspace. Let KK and K0K_0 be convex bodies in Rn\R^n, and let K0K_0 be centrally symmetric and satisfy a weak regularity and curvature condition (which includes all K0K_0 with \fK0\f K_0 of class C2C^2 with positive radii of curvature). Assume that KK and K0K_0 have proportional 1st projection functions (i.e., width functions) and proportional kkth projection functions. For 2k<(n+1)/22\le k<(n+1)/2 and for k=3,n=5k=3, n=5 we show that KK and K0K_0 are homothetic. In the special case where K0K_0 is a Euclidean ball, we thus obtain characterizations of Euclidean balls as convex bodies of constant width and constant kk-brightness.

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Cite

@article{arxiv.math/0601499,
  title  = {Nakajima's problem: convex bodies of constant width and constant brightness},
  author = {Ralph Howard and Daniel Hug},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:math/0601499},
  year   = {2007}
}

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9 pages