On shadow boundaries of centrally symmetric convex bodies (Q1005912)

A centrally symmetric convex body \(K\) in \(\mathbb R^n\) may be used as unit ball to generate a norm. The shadow boundary of \(K\) in the direction \({\mathbf x}\) is the set of all points \({\mathbf y}\) in the boundary of \(K\) for which the line \({\mathbf y} + \lambda{\mathbf x}\) (\(\lambda \in \mathbb R\)) supports \(K\). The bisector \(H_{\mathbf x}\) is the set of all points equidistant (relative to the norm) between \({\mathbf x}\) and the origin. This paper begins with a useful survey of known facts about these sets before developing interesting new ones. The main theorems give conditions under which these sets are topological manifolds. The concluding result is that if the bisector \(H_{\mathbf x}\) is a homeomorphic copy of \(\mathbb R^{n-1}\) then the corresponding shadow boundary is a topological \((n-2)\)-sphere. The author conjectures that the converse is also true.