Cardinalities of \(k\)-distance sets in Minkowski spaces (Q1292877)

The author considers \(k\)-distance sets \(S\) in \(d\)-dimensional Banach spaces (i.e., sets of points with exactly \(k\) distances between them). He states the conjecture that always \(\# S \leq (k+1)^d\), with equality if and only if the space is isometric to \(({\mathbb R}^d,\|\cdot\|_\infty)\), and verifies this conjecture for that special case, and also for the case that \(d=2\). The proofs share a common element, namely a family \(P_j\) (\(1\leq j\leq m\)) of cones with the property that \({\mathbb R}^d=\bigcup_j \pm P_j\), and that \(x,y\in P_j\), \(x\neq y\), \(\|x\|=\|y\|\) implies \(x-y\neq \pm P_j\). The existence of such cones then shows that the cardinality of a \(k\)-distance set is at most \((k+1)^m\). Another result derived in this paper is the weaker upper bound \(\# S\leq \min(2^{kd},(k+1)^{(11^d-9^d)/2})\).