Unique local determination of convex bodies (Q1677528): Difference between revisions

\textit{J. A. Barker} and \textit{D. G. Larman} [Discrete Math. 241, No. 1--3, 79--96 (2001; Zbl 0999.52002)] posed the following question: Let \(K\) be a convex body in the interior of another convex body \(K'\subset {\mathbb R}^d\) and assume that for all supporting hyperplanes \(H\) of \(K\) the \((d-1)\)-volumes of \(K'\cap H\) are given. Does this determine \(K'\) uniquely? \textit{V. Yaskin} and \textit{N. Zhang} [Isr. J. Math. 220, No. 2, 763--790 (2017; Zbl 1381.52005)] formulated a similar question, replacing the areas \(V_{d-1}(K'\cap H)\) by the volumes \(V_d(K'\cap H^+)\) of caps (\(H^+\) is the halfspace of \(H\) not containing \(K\)). Various modifications of these two questions have been considered in the literature and special cases have been established. The authors give an overview of such results in their introduction. They then give positive answers to local versions of both questions. To be more specific, \(K\) is assumed to be of class \(C^2_+\) with the origin in its interior. Instead of \(K'\), a family \(K^t\), \(t\geq 0\), is considered (with \(K^0=K\)), arising from a \(C^2\)-perturbation \(\rho^t\) of the radial function \(\rho\) of \(K\). Then, it is shown that the limit of \(V_{d-1}(K^t\cap H)\), normalized by \(t^{(d-1)/2}\), exists for all supporting hyperplanes \(H\) of \(K\), and, as a function of \(H\), it determines the derivative \((\partial\rho^t(u)/\partial t)|_{t=0}\) for all unit vectors \(u\). The same result also holds if the areas \(V_{d-1}(K^t\cap H)\) of the intersections are replaced by the volumes \(V_{d}(K^t\cap H^+)\) of the caps. In fact, the authors show a more general result where the area (resp. the volume) is replaced by an arbitrary intrinsic volume and where (in the section case) the hyperplanes \(H\) are replaced by lower-dimensional supporting affine subspaces.