Polyhedral approximation of smooth convex bodies (Q1093903)

Let C be a convex body in d-dimensional Euclidean space \({\mathbb{R}}^ d\), and denote by \({\mathcal P}^ c_{(n)}(C)\) the set of convex polytopes containing C with at most n facets. Let \(\delta\) (C,\({\mathcal P}^ c_{(n)})= \inf \{\delta (C,P):\) \({\mathcal P}^ c_{(n)}(C)\}\), where \(\delta\) (C,P) denotes the Hausdorff distance of C and P. The author proves the following theorem: If the boundary \(\partial C\) of C is a regular, three times continuously differentiable hypersurface with everywhere positive Gaussian curvature K, then \(\lim_{n\to \infty}n^{2/(d-1)}\delta (C,{\mathcal P}^ c_{(n)})= \alpha (C)^{2/(d- 1)}\) with \(\alpha (C)= [\theta_{d-1}/\kappa_{d-1}]\int_{\partial C}K^{1/2}dA\). Here, dA denotes the surface area element, \(\kappa_ d\) is the volume of the d-dimensional unit ball and \(\theta_ d\) is the density of a thinnest covering of \({\mathbb{R}}^ s\) by congruent balls. For the proof, optimal covering of \(\partial C\) by geodesic balls (with respect to the Riemannian metric given by the second fundamental form) is used. An analogous result for approximation of C by polytopes contained in C with a given number of vertices was proved by the author in an earlier paper [Math. Ann. 256, 289-301 (1981; Zbl 0445.52004)]. For \(d=2\), these results and related ones were obtained by \textit{D. E. McClure} and \textit{R. A. Vitale} [J. Math. Analysis Appl. 51, 326-358 (1975; Zbl 0315.52004)], who used a different method which is restricted to the planar case. The formulas for \(d=2\) and \(d=3\) where indicated by \textit{L. Fejes Tóth} [Bull. Am. Math. Soc. 54, 431-438 (1948; Zbl 0031.27806), footnotes 2 and 10; Lagerungen in der Ebene, auf der Kugel und im Raum, Springer (1953; Zbl 0052.184), p. 43 and p. 149].