On the degree of generating distributions of centrally symmetric convex bodies (Q1383622)

Let \(C_e^\infty(S^{n-1})\) be the space of even, infinitely differentiable functions on the unit sphere \(S^{n-1}\subseteq\mathbb{R}^n\), endowed with the topology of uniform convergence of all derivatives. In \textit{W. Weil} [Isr. J. Math. 24, 352-367 (1976; Zbl 0337.52006)], it is proved that for every centrally symmetric convex body \(K\subset\mathbb{R}^n\) there corresponds a unique generating distribution, i.e., a continuous linear functional \(\rho_K\) on the space \(C_e^\infty(S^{n-1})\), whose domain can be extended to include the functions \(|\langle u,\cdot\rangle|, u \in S^{n-1}\), such that \(\rho_K(|\langle u,\cdot\rangle|) = h_K(u)\) for every \(u\in S^{n-1}\), where \(h_K\) is the support function of \(K\) and \(\langle\cdot,\cdot\rangle\) is the canonical scalar product on \(\mathbb{R}^n\). By compactness, every distribution on \(S^{n-1}\) has a finite degree, that is, it can be represented as a finite sum of finite order derivatives of measures on \(S^{n-1}\). Concerning the degrees of generating distributions, the following result was obtained in \textit{P. R. Goodey} and \textit{W. Weil} [J. Differ. Geom. 35, No. 3, 675-688 (1992; Zbl 0780.52004)]: The degree of the generating distribution of a centrally symmetric convex body in \(\mathbb{R}^n\) is bounded above by \((n + 5)/2\). The purpose of this work is to show that the above bound is asymptotically the best possible. More precisely, it is shown that for every \(n \geqq 3\), there exists a centrally symmetric convex body in \(\mathbb{R}^n\) with a generating distribution whose degree is at least \((n - 2)/2\).