Nearly umbilical ovaloids in the \(n\)-space are close to spheres (Q1306282): Difference between revisions

The paper concerns relationships between local and global properties of ovaloids in R\(^n\) for \(n \geq 3\). A hyperspace \(F\) of class \(C^\infty\) in R\(^n\) is an \textit{ovaloid} provided that \(F\) is the boundary of a (compact) convex body \(K\) and the Gauss-Kronecker curvature of \(F\) is positive everywhere. For every unit normal vector \(u\) of \(F\), let \(R_1(u),\dots,R_{n-1}(u)\) be the radii of curvature at \(u\) with \[ R_1(u) \leq\dots\leq R_{n-1}(u). \] Let \(\delta,\varepsilon \geq 0\). The ovaloid \(F\) is called \(\delta\)-umbilical if \[ \delta=\sup_{u \in S^{n-1}}(R_{n-1}(u)-R_1(u)), \] and is called \(\varepsilon\)-\textit{close to a sphere} if \[ \varepsilon= \inf_{B \subset R^n} d(K,B), \] where \(B\) is a ball and \(d\) is the Hausdorff distance. The author proves that every \(\delta\)-umbilical ovaloid \(F\) in \(R^n\) for \(n \geq 3\) is \(c_n \delta\)-close to a sphere, for some constant \(c_n\) which depends only on \(n\). He obtains stronger results for particular cases of \(F\) centrally symmetric or \(n=3\).