The measures of asymmetry for coproducts of convex bodies (Q2516657)

The authors continue their study of asymmetry of convex bodies \( C \subset {\mathbb R}^n\) with support functions \( h_x (C,u) \), \( u \in {\mathbb S}^{n-1}\) [the first author, Adv. Geom. 12, No. 2, 287--301 (2012; Zbl 1242.52004)]. Let \( \widehat{C}_z := \text{conv }(C,z)\) be a cone with vertex \(z\) and base \( C\), where \( z \) is not in the affine hull of \( C \). Denote by \( \text{Aff} ({\mathbb R}^n)\) the family of all affine maps \( {\mathbb R}^n \to {\mathbb R}^n\). Definition. For \( C \in {\mathcal K}^{n}\) its \(p\)-measure of asymmetry \( \text{as}_p (C)\), \( 1 \leq p \leq \infty\) is defined by \[ \text{as}_p (C):= \inf_{x \in \text{int} (C)} \mu_p (C,x), \] where \[ \mu_p (C,x) := \Big(\int_{ {\mathbb S}^{n-1}}\alpha_x(C,x)^p d m_x (C,u)\Big)^{1/p} \text{ for}\,\, 1\leq p < \infty; \] \[ \mu_p (C,x):= \sup_{u \in {\mathbb S}^{n-1}} \alpha_x(C,u) \text{ for}\,\, p = \infty; \] \(\alpha_x (C,u) := h_x (C,-u)/h_x(C,u)\), and \( d m_x (C,u)\) is the standard probabilistic measure on \({\mathbb S}^{n-1} \) generated by \( h_x (C,u)\). Definition. Given \( C \subset {\mathbb R}^m \) and \( D \subset {\mathbb R}^n\) ( \( m, n \geq 0 \)), the coproduct body \( C \sqcup D \subset {\mathbb R}^{n+m+1}\) is defined by \[ C \sqcup D := \bigcup_{0\leq \lambda \leq 1} (1-\lambda ) C \times \lambda D = \{ (1-\lambda )x, \lambda y, \{\lambda \} \},\, x \in C, \,y \in D. \] Theorem 1.3. For any \( 1 \leq p, q \leq \infty \), the following statements are true {\parindent=8mm \begin{itemize} \item[(i)] \( \text{as}_p (\cdot)\) is affinely invariant, i.e., \( \text{as}_p (C) = \text{as}_p (T( C)) \) for any \( C \in {\mathcal K}^{n}\) and any invertible \( T \in \text{Aff} ({\mathbb R}^n)\). \item [(ii)] \( \text{as}_p \leq \text{as}_q \), for any \( C \in {\mathcal K}^{n}\) and \( 1 \leq p < q \leq \infty\). \item [(iii)] \( 1 \leq \text{as}_p \leq n \), \( \) \( \text{as}_p =1 \) if and only if \( C \) is symmetric, and \( \text{as}_p = n \) if and only if \( C \) is a simplex. \end{itemize}} Theorem 2.1. Let \(C\), \(z\) be as above. Then {\parindent=6mm \begin{itemize} \item[(i)] \( \text{as}_1 (\widehat{C}_z) =\text{as}_1 (C) + 1 \). \item [(ii)] \( \text{as}_2 (\widehat{C}_z)^2 =\text{as}_2 (C)^2 + \sqrt{\text{as}_2 (C)^2 + 2\text{as}_1 (C) +1} -1 \). Consequently, we have \( \text{as}_2 (\widehat C_z) \leq \text{as}_2 (C) + 1 \), where equality holds if and only if \( \text{as}_2 (C) = \text{as}_1 (C)\). \end{itemize}} Theorem 2.6. For any \( C \subset {\mathcal K}^m \) and \( D \subset {\mathcal K}^n ( m, n \geq 0 )\), \[ \text{as}_1 (C \sqcup D) = \text{as}_1 (C) + \text{as}_1 (D) + 1, \] where we take convention that \(\text{as}_1 (C) = 0\) (or \(\text{as}_1 (D) = 0\)) if \(C\) (or \(D\)) \(\in {\mathcal K}^{0}\). Analogous result holds for \( \text{as}_{\infty} (C \sqcup D)\), Theorem 3.2. The authors formulate two open questions: Question 1. Is the class of symmetric convex bodies a generating class for the class \({\mathcal A}:= \{C \in {\mathcal K}^k \, | \,\text{as}_1 (C)=\text{as}_{\infty} (C), k=0, 1, 2,\ldots \} \) under invertible affine transformations and coproducts? Question 2. Does \(\text{as}_1 (C)= \text{as}_{\infty} (C) \) hold if \( \text{as}_1 (C)= \text{as}_{2} (C)\), (or, generally, if \( \text{as}_{p_1} (C)= \text{as}_{p_2} (C) \) for distinct \( p_1, p_2\))?