The Santaló point for the Holmes-Thompson boundary area (Q2074803)

Let \(V\) be a finite-dimensional vector space, and let \(B\subset V\) be a convex body (that is, a compact and convex set), containing the origin of \(V\) as an interior point. Denote by \(\|\cdot\|_B\) the (possibly non-symmetric) norm of \(V\), which has \(B\) as unit ball. The restriction of \(\|\cdot\|_B\) to any hypersurface contained in \(V\) induces a Finsler metric; let \({\mathcal A}_B\) be the corresponding notion of area, or Holmes-Thompson \((n-1)\)-dimensional volume. Let \(V^*\) be the dual space of \(V\), and let \[ K^*=\{p\in V^*\colon p(v)\le 1\}, \] be the dual body of a convex body \(K\subset V\), containing the origin in its interior. The authors focus on the quantity \({\mathcal A}_{B^*}(\partial K^*)\). If \(V={\mathbb R}^n\) and \(B\) is the Euclidean unit ball, then \({\mathcal A}_{B^*}(\partial K^*)={\mathcal H}^{n-1}(\partial K^\circ)\), where \({\mathcal H}^{n-1}\) is the \((n-1)\)-dimensional Hausdorff measure, and \(K^\circ\) is the standard polar body. In analogy with the classic result concerning the Santaló point of a convex body in \(\mathbb{R}^n\), the following result is proved in the paper. Theorem. Let \((V,\|\cdot\|_{B})\) be a finite-dimensional real normed vector space, with unit ball \(B\), and let \(K\subset V\) be a convex body, containing the origin in its interior, and with boundary of class \(C^1\). Then the functional \[x\in\mathrm{int}(K)\ \rightarrow\, {\mathcal A}_{B^*}(\partial(K-x)^*) \tag{1}\] is strictly convex, and proper in the interior of \(K\). In particular, there exists a unique minimizing point \({\mathcal S}_B(K)\in\mathrm{int}(K)\) for this functional. The authors prove that if the regularity assumption on \(\partial B\) is removed, then the functional (1) is still convex, but in general not strictly convex, and the uniqueness of the point \({\mathcal S}_B(K)\) is no longer guaranteed. On the other hand, uniqueness always holds if \(K=B\). In particular, thanks to the formula \({\mathcal A}_{B^*}(\partial B^*)={\mathcal A}_{B}(\partial B)\) (proved by [\textit{R. D. Holmes} and \textit{A. C. Thompson}, Pac. J. Math. 85, 77--110 (1980; Zbl 0467.51007)]), this implies that the functional \[ x\in\mathrm{int}(B)\ \rightarrow\ {\mathcal A}_{B-x}(\partial(B-x)), \] admits a unique minimizing point. The authors also study the quantity \[ \left.\frac{d}{dt}\right|_{t=0}{\mathcal A}_{B^*}(\partial (K-tv)^*), \] and provide a formula for this derivative.