Non-central sections of the simplex, the cross-polytope and the cube (Q2214100)

Despite the fact that a wealth of different \((n-1)\)-dimensional polytopes can be obtained by intersecting the \(n\)-dimensional unit hypercube \([-1/2,1/2]^n\) with an (arbitrary) hyperplane, there exists an elegant general formula, due to \textit{K. Ball} [Proc. Am. Math. Soc. 97, 465--473 (1986; Zbl 0601.52005)] for their volume (see also [\textit{R. Frank} and \textit{H. Riede}, Am. Math. Mon. 119, No. 10, 868--872 (2012; Zbl 1264.51015)]). Keith Ball used this formula in order to determine the maximal possible value of this volume over all the hyperplanes that intersect the hypercube. A related question asks about the maximal possible volume of the intersection of \([-1/2,1/2]^n\) with a hyperplane \(H\) whose distance \(t\) to the origin is fixed. This question has been partially solved, in the case when \(t\) is greater than the distance to the origin of the midpoints of the edges of \([-1/2,1/2]^n\). For these values of \(t\), one of the half-spaces bounded by \(H\) contains no more than one vertex of the hypercube, which makes the computation tractable. It is shown in [\textit{J. Moody} et al., Fields Inst. Commun. 68, 211--228 (2013; Zbl 1270.52008)] that, in this case, the maximal volume is achieved when \(H\) is orthogonal to the diagonals of the hypercube. If one replaces the hypercube by its polar cross-polytope, the same question has been solved in [\textit{R. Liu} and \textit{T. Tkocz}, Adv. Appl. Math. 118, Article ID 102031, 16 p. (2020; Zbl 1440.52015)], also when \(t\) is greater than the distance between the origin and the midpoint of the edges of the cross-polytope: in that case, maximality occurs when \(H\) is orthogonal to the line between opposite vertices of the cross-polytope. This article considers the same problem in the case of the \(n\)-dimensional regular simplex \(\Delta^n\). Here, the distance \(t\) is measured between the hyperplane \(H\) and the centroid \(c\) of the simplex. It is shown that, when \(t\) is greater than the distance between \(c\) and the midpoints of the edges of \(\Delta^n\), the maximal volume of the intersection of \(\Delta^n\) with \(H\) is achieved when \(H\) is orthogonal to the line through \(c\) and a vertex of \(\Delta^n\). The article also shows that, in ranges of smaller values for \(t\), the volume of the intersection of \(\Delta^n\) with the hyperplanes orthogonal to the lines through the centroid of \(\Delta^n\) and its vertices is sometimes locally maximal, sometimes locally minimal. Similar local extremality results are given in the cases of the hypercube and the cross-polytope, in ranges where \(t\) is smaller than what was previously considered in the literature. Other extremality results are given, in particular regarding the volume of the boundary of the intersection of all three polytopes with \(H\) for well-defined ranges for \(t\).