Width of convex bodies in spaces of constant curvature (Q926281): Difference between revisions

Let \(K\) be a convex body in Euclidean space. Given a hyperplane \(\xi\), the width in direction \(\xi\) is the distance between the two support planes of \(K\) which are parallel to \(\xi\). There are several ways to define the width of a convex body in a space of constant curvature. In this paper, a very natural approach is chosen. Given a convex set \(K\) with (sufficiently) smooth boundary and a boundary point \(x \in \partial K\), the width \(w(x)\) is defined as the smallest positive number \(r\) such that the hyperplane which intersects the geodesic \(\exp(t n(x))\) orthogonally in the point \(\exp(r n(x))\) is tangent to the boundary of \(K\). Here \(n(x)\) is the inward normal vector at \(x\). The width is thus a function on the boundary of \(K\). Several interesting and useful expressions for the measures of lines and planes intersecting \(K\) are obtained. We mention just one of them. Let \(X_c^3\) be the simply connected three-dimensional space of constant curvature \(c\). It is shown that twice the measure of planes intersecting \(K \subset X_c^3\) is given by an integral \[ \int_{\partial K} \left(\alpha_0(x)+\alpha_1(x)H(x)+\alpha_2(x)K(x)\right) \,dx, \] where the (explicitly known) functions \(\alpha_i\) depend on \(c\) and on the width \(w(x)\). As usual, \(H\) and \(K\) denote mean and Gauss curvature. As another main result, a generalization of the Heintze-Karcher inequality to spaces of constant curvature is proved. Let \(K \subset X_c^3\) be a strictly convex body. If \(c<0\), \(K\) is supposed to be strictly \(h\)-convex. Given a boundary point \(x \in \partial K\), the mean curvature radius \(\rho(x)\) is defined by \[ \cot_c \rho(x)=H(x). \] Then \[ \text{vol}(K) \leq \int_{\partial K} \frac{\text{vol}_c(\rho(x))}{\text{area}_c(\rho(x))} \,dx, \] where \(\text{vol}_c(\rho)\) resp. \(\text{area}_c(\rho)\) denotes the volume of a ball resp. the area of a sphere of radius \(\rho\) in \(X_c^3\). Equality holds if and only if \(K\) is a ball. In the Euclidean case, this inequality reduces to the classical Heintze-Karcher inequality \[ \text{vol}(K) \leq \frac13 \int_{\partial K} \frac{1}{H(x)} dx. \]