Contributions to affine surface area (Q1353064)

There have been introduced two kinds of the notion of equiaffine surface area of an arbitrary convex body \(K\) in \(\mathbb{R}^d\) into literature, namely \[ {\mathcal O}_a(K):=\int_{\partial K} H_{d-1}(K,x)^{\frac{1}{d+1}} d{\mathcal H}^{d-1}(x)\tag{1} \] by \textit{C. Schütt} and \textit{E. Werner} [Math. Scand. 66, 275-290 (1990; Zbl 0739.52008)] and, preceding, \[ \widetilde{{\mathcal O}}(K):=\int_{S^{n-1}} D_{d-1}h(K,u)^{\frac{d}{d+1}} d{\mathcal H}^{d-1}(u)\tag{22} \] by \textit{K. Leichtweiß} [Manuscr. Math. 56, 429-464 (1986; Zbl 0597.52003)]. Here \(H_{d-1}(K,x)\) is the (a.e. existing) Gauß-Kronecker curvature of \(\partial K\) at \(x\) and \(D_{d-1}h(K,u)\) is the (a.e. existing) sum of the principal \((d-1)\)-minors of the Hessian matrix \(d^2h(K,u)\) of the support function of \(K\) at \(u\). The author provides a direct approach to the (known) equality of (1) and (2), not only for these integrals but also for localized versions and generalizations to the \(p\)-surface area \((p>0)\) in the sense of \textit{E. Lutwak} [Adv. Math. 118, 244-294 (1996; Zbl 0853.52003)]. Moreover, characteristic conditions for the positivity of the affine area of \(K\) are indicated involving the Hausdorff measure \({\mathcal H}^{d-1}\) of the set of furthest boundary points resp. of directions of nearest boundary points of \(K\). Finally, the author presents a new direct proof of the equiaffine isoperimetric inequality for an arbitrary convex body \(K\), using Steiner symmetrization, together with a proof of the Blaschke-Santaló inequality (discussion of equality included) which avoids the difficulties of the proof of \textit{C. M. Petty} [Ann. N. Y. Acad. Sci. 440, 113-127 (1985; Zbl 0576.52003)].