Dimensions of staircase kernels in orthogonal polygons (Q1326544)

Krasnoselskij's art gallery theorem asserts that if a planar set \(S\) is such that every triple of points in \(S\) can see (i.e. can be connected by line segments in \(S\) to) a common point, then all points of \(S\) can see a common point \(x\), i.e. \(S\) is star-shaped with respect to \(x\). All points \(x\) of \(S\) with respect to which \(S\) is star-shaped form the kernel of \(S\). The author explores this idea in a plane with two distinguished directions, horizontal and vertical. So she restricts the sets to orthogonal polygons, which are connected unions of finitely many rectangles (possibly degenerated) and replaces straight light rays by stairway paths, which are monotone arcs in computer graphics. In particular she investigates the dimension of the staircase kernel and finds 1. If \(S \neq \emptyset\) is a simply connected orthogonal polygon such that every 4 points of \(S\) see (via staircase paths in \(S\)) a common line segment, then the staircase kernel of \(S\) contains a line segment. 2. If \(S \neq \emptyset\) is a simply connected orthogonal polygon such that every 4 points of \(S\) see a rectangle, then the staircase kernel of \(S\) contains a rectangle. Examples show that in each case 4 is best possible. A set is called orthogonally convex if the intersection with every horizontal or vertical line is connected. An example shows that there is no analogue of Helly's theorem for orthogonally convex polygons.