Topological obstructions for vertex numbers of Minkowski sums (Q1003631)

\textit{K. Fukuda} and \textit{C. Weibel} [Discrete Comput.\ Geom.\ 37, No. 4, 503--516 (2007; Zbl 1125.52009)] have shown that, if \(r < d\), then for \(i = 1,\ldots,r\) there are polytopes \(P_i\) in \(\mathbb{R}^d\) with an arbitrarily large number \(f_0(P_i)\) of vertices, such that the Minkowski sum \(P_1 + \cdots + P_r\) achieves the maximum number \(\prod_i \, n_i\) of vertices. In contrast, the present author proves that, if \(r \geq d\) and \(f_0(P_i) > d\) for each \(i\), then \[ f_0(P_1 + \cdots + P_r) \leq \left(1 - \frac1{(d+1)^d}\right) \prod_i \, f_0(P_i). \] This follows from the stronger result that, if \(P\) is isomorphic to a \(d\)-fold product of \(d\)-simplices and \(\pi: P \to \mathbb{R}^d\) is a linear projection, then \(f_0(\pi P) \leq f_0(P) - 1 = (d+1)^d - 1\). The proof uses Gale transforms and van Kampen-type obstructions.