Beta Polytopes and Beta Cones: An Exactly Solvable Model in Geometric Probability

Let $X_1,\ldots, X_n$ be independent random points in the unit ball of $\mathbb R^d$ such that $X_i$ follows a beta distribution with the density proportional to $(1-\|x\|^2)^{\beta_i}1_{\{\|x\| <1\}}$. Here, $\beta_1,\ldots, \beta_n> -1$ are parameters. We study random polytopes of the form $[X_1,\ldots,X_n]$, called beta polytopes. We determine explicitly expected values of several functionals of these polytopes including the number of $k$-dimensional faces, the volume, the intrinsic volumes, the total $k$-volume of the $k$-skeleton, various angle sums, and the $S$-functional which generalizes and unifies many of the above examples. We identify and study the central object needed to analyze beta polytopes: beta cones. For these, we determine explicitly expected values of several functionals including the solid angle, conic intrinsic volumes and the number of $k$-dimensional faces. We identify expected conic intrinsic volumes of beta cones as a crucial quantity needed to express all the functionals mentioned above. We obtain a formula for these expected conic intrinsic volumes in terms of a function $\Theta$ for which we provide an explicit integral representation. The proofs combine methods from integral and stochastic geometry with the study of the analytic properties of the function $\Theta$.