English

Sharing pizza in n dimensions

Combinatorics 2022-02-11 v2

Abstract

We introduce and prove the nn-dimensional Pizza Theorem: Let H\mathcal{H} be a hyperplane arrangement in Rn\mathbb{R}^{n}. If KK is a measurable set of finite volume, the {pizza quantity} of KK is the alternating sum of the volumes of the regions obtained by intersecting KK with the arrangement H\mathcal{H}. We prove that if H\mathcal{H} is a Coxeter arrangement different from A1nA_{1}^{n} such that the group of isometries WW generated by the reflections in the hyperplanes of H\mathcal{H} contains the map id-\mathrm{id}, and if KK is a translate of a convex body that is stable under WW and contains the origin, then the pizza quantity of KK is equal to zero. Our main tool is an induction formula for the pizza quantity involving a subarrangement of the restricted arrangement on hyperplanes of H\mathcal{H} that we call the {even restricted arrangement}. More generally, we prove that for a class of arrangements that we call {even} (this includes the Coxeter arrangements above) and for a {sufficiently symmetric} set KK, the pizza quantity of K+aK+a is polynomial in aa for aa small enough, for example if KK is convex and 0K+a0\in K+a. We get stronger results in the case of balls, more generally, convex bodies bounded by quadratic hypersurfaces. For example, we prove that the pizza quantity of the ball centered at aa having radius RaR\geq\|a\| vanishes for a Coxeter arrangement H\mathcal{H} with Hn|\mathcal{H}|-n an even positive integer. We also prove the Pizza Theorem for the surface volume: When H\mathcal{H} is a Coxeter arrangement and Hn|\mathcal{H}| - n is a nonnegative even integer, for an nn-dimensional ball the alternating sum of the (n1)(n-1)-dimensional surface volumes of the regions is equal to zero.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2102.06649,
  title  = {Sharing pizza in n dimensions},
  author = {Richard Ehrenborg and Sophie Morel and Margaret Readdy},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2102.06649},
  year   = {2022}
}

Comments

25 pages, to appear in Transaction of the AMS

R2 v1 2026-06-23T23:06:43.156Z