Curvature measures and Steiner formulae in space forms (Q1179134)

This paper contains the first part of the author's thesis [On curvature measures, Minkowski equations and characterizations of metric spheres in space forms (Dortmund: Univ. Dortmund, FB Math., Diss. 92 S., 1988; Zbl 0672.52003)]. The aim is to develop the theory of curvature measures for sets of positive reach in spaces of constant curvature. In the Euclidean case this topic was introduced by H. Federer and further investigated by R. Schneider (in case of convex bodies) and by M. Zaehle. The curvature measures are defined through Steiner formulae for the volume of parallel sets. The connection of the curvature measures with the classical smooth mean curvatures via the generalized second fundamental form is made evident. Some measure theoretical properties of the set of points with normal cone of a fixed dimension are given. Moreover, as an application of the developed theory, an Allendoerfer-Weil formula, derived by R. Walter, is proved, which expresses the Euler characteristic of a compact set of positive reach in a space of constant curvature through a linear combination of its total curvature measures. Forthcoming papers will establish Minkowski formulae and characterizations of spheres within this general context.