Lutwak-Petty projection inequalities for Minkowski valuations and their duals (Q2190008)

In this paper the authors establish important new generalizations of the Petty projection inequality and the Busemann-Petty centroid inequality. Let \(\mathcal{K}^n\) denote the set of convex bodies, i.e., compact, convex subsets in \(\mathbb{R}^n\) and let \(\mathcal{K}_n^n\) denote the set of convex bodies with non-empty interior. The classical Petty projection inequality states that for \(K\in\mathcal{K}_n^n\) the volume product \[V_n(\Pi^* K) V_n(K)^{n-1}\] is maximized if and only if \(K\) is an ellipsoid. Here, \(\Pi K\) denotes the projection body of \(K\), which can be defined via its support function as \(h(\Pi K,u)=V_{n-1}(K|u^\perp)\), \(u\in\mathbb{S}^{n-1}\) and \(\Pi^* K=(\Pi K)^*\) denotes its polar body. This result can be seen as an affine isoperimetric inequality and has been generalized, among others, by \textit{E. Lutwak} [Trans. Am. Math. Soc. 287, 91--106 (1985; Zbl 0555.52010)] for projection bodies of all orders, as well as by \textit{C. Haberl} and \textit{F. E. Schuster} [Adv. Math. 356, Article ID 106811 (2019; Zbl 1436.51017)] for certain Minkowski valuations. In this article an inequality for polarizations of these Minkowski valuations is obtained. For an even, non-trivial, \(\operatorname{SO}(n-1)\) invariant measure \(\mu\) on \(\mathbb{S}^{n-1}\) and \(K\in\mathcal{K}^n\), let \(\Phi^\mu K\) be defined as \[h(\Phi^\mu K, u) = \int_{\partial K} h(Z^\mu(u),\nu_K(x)) \,\mathrm{d}\mathcal{H}^{n-1}(x),\quad u\in\mathbb{S}^{n-1},\] where \(Z^{\mu}(u)\) is the unique zonoid of revolution with symmetry axis \(u\in\mathbb{S}^{n-1}\) that is generated by \(\mu\) and where \(\nu_K(x)\) denotes the outer unit normal to \(K\) at the boundary point \(x\in\partial K\). The operator \(\Phi^\mu\) furthermore admits a polarization \[\Phi^\mu:\underbrace{\mathcal{K}^n\times\cdots\times\mathcal{K}^n}_{n-1}\to\mathcal{K}^n,\] which is defined via the relationship \[\Phi^{\mu}(\lambda_1 K_1+\cdots +\lambda_m K_m) = \sum_{i_1,\ldots,i_{n-1}=1}^m \lambda_{i_1}\cdots \lambda_{i_{n-1}} \Phi^{\mu}(K_{i_1},\ldots,K_{i_{n-1}})\] for \(K_1,\ldots,K_m\in\mathcal{K}^n\) and \(\lambda_1,\ldots,\lambda_m\geq 0\), where on the left-hand side Minkowski addition is used. The authors now show that the volume product \[V_n(\Phi^{\mu,*}(K_1,\ldots,K_{n-1}))V_n(K_1)\cdots V_n(K_{n-1})\] is maximized by Euclidean balls. If \(\mu\) is not discrete, then these are the only maximizers. If \(\mu\) is discrete, then \(\Phi^{\mu,*}\) corresponds to the classical mixed projection body and the expression is maximized if and only if \(K_1,\ldots,K_{n-1}\) are homothetic ellipsoids. The proof of this result is based on a generalization of the Busemann-Petty centroid inequality for generalized centroid bodies, which is also established in this paper. Furthermore, the authors show that the volume of the (generalized) polar projection body of order \(i\), \(1\leq i \leq n-1\), can be bounded in terms of the corresponding affine quermassintegrals. Similarly, in the dual setting, such inequalities are established for generalizations of the intersection body and the dual affine quermassintegrals.