On the vertex index of convex bodies (Q2383004)

Let \({\mathbf K}\) be a convex body, symmetric about the origin in \({\mathbb R}^d\), \(d\geq 2\), let \(\|\cdot\|_{\mathbf K}\) be the norm for which \({\mathbf K}\) is the unit ball, and \(\text{conv}\{p_1,\dots, p_k\}\) be a polytope containing \({\mathbf K}\). The authors introduce the vertex index of \({\mathbf K}\) as \[ \text{vein}({\mathbf K})=\inf\left\{\sum_i\|p_i\|_{\mathbf K}\mid {\mathbf K}\subset\text{conv}\{p_i\}\right\}. \] The problem of estimating this parameter is related to the illumination parameters of convex bodies and the Boltyanskii-Hadwiger illumination conjecture. The main results of the paper are: 1. For every \(d\geq 2\), the inequality \[ \frac{d^{3/2}}{\sqrt{2\pi e}}\leq\text{vein}({\mathbb B}_2^d)\leq 2d^{3/2} \] holds, where \({\mathbb B}_2^d\) denotes the Euclidean ball of \({\mathbb R}^d\). Moreover, if \(d=2,3\), then \(\text{vein}({\mathbb B}_2^d)=2d^{3/2}\). 2. There is an absolute constant \(C>0\) such that, for every \(d\geq 2\) and every \({\mathbf K}\), the inequality \[ \frac{d^{3/2}}{\sqrt{2\pi e}\cdot\text{ovr}({\mathbf K})}\leq\text{vein}({\mathbf K})\leq Cd^{3/2}\ln(2d) \] holds, where \(\text{ovr}({\mathbf K})=\inf(\text{vol}(E)/\text{vol}({\mathbf K}))^{1/d}\) is the outer volume ratio of \({\mathbf K}\), the infimum is taken over all ellipsoids containing \({\mathbf K}\). The paper uses techniques and results from the local theory of Banach spaces. The authors mention related open problems and conjecture that \(\text{vein}({\mathbb B}_2^d)=2d^{3/2}\) for all \(d\).