A reduction of the slicing problem to finite volume ratio bodies. (Q1408079)

Consider a convex body \(K\) of volume \(1\) and barycentre at the origin of \(\mathbb R^n\). The body \(K\) is in isotropic position if \(\int_K\langle x,u\rangle dx = L_K^2\) is a constant independent of the unit vector \(u\in \mathbb R^n\). It is well known that there is a unique positive definite volume preserving linear transformation \(T\) such that \(T(K)\) is in isotropic position. We let \(L_K:=L_{T(K)}\) be the isotropic constant of \(K\). It is still unsolved whether the isotropic constant \(L_K\) of \(K\) is bounded above by a constant independent of the dimension. In this article the following conditional statement is announced involving the volume ratio of \(K\) which equals \(\sup(| K| /| E| )^{1/n}\) with the supremum taken over all ellipsoids \(E\subseteq K\): There exists a number \(v>0\) such that if there exists a number \(c_1>0\) such that for all \(n\) and all convex bodies \(K\subset\mathbb R^n\) of volume ratio \(<v\) it holds that \(L_K<c_1\), then there exists a number \(c_2>0\) such that for all \(n\) and all convex bodies \(K\subset\mathbb R^n\) we have \(L_K<c_2\). A proof is sketched.