GEOMETRIC INEQUALITIES FOR PLANE HEDGEHOGS (Q4254032)

Let \(h\in C^2(S^1,\mathbb{R})\) be any function. Then, the ``hedgehog'' \(H_h\) is a closed curve in the Euclidean plane defined as the envelope of the family of support lines given by (+) \(x\cdot\cos t+ y\cdot\sin t= p(t)\), \(t\in [0,2\pi)\), where the support function \(p(t)= h(\cos t,\sin t)\) equals the signed distance of the line (+), with oriented normal vector \((\cos t,\sin t)\), from the origin. Let \(V\) be the real vector space of plane hedgehogs defined up to translations; and let \(F\) be the subspace of \(V\) consisting of the hedgehogs \(H_h\) having the algebraic length \(l(h)=0\). Then, the algebraic area \(a(h)\) of a hedgehog \(H_h\), given by \(2\cdot a(h)= \int_0^{2\pi} (p^2-{p'}^2) dt\), defines a nondegenerate quadratic form \(a:V\to \mathbb{R}\), \(h\mapsto a(h)\) having the algebraic mixed area \(a(h,k)\) of a pair of hedgehogs \(\{H_h, H_k\}\) as the corresponding symmetric bilinear form; note that \(a(h,h)= a(h)\). The author proves a series of inequalities which are related to well-known inequalities from convex geometry. Some examples are: (1) \(\forall h\in F\), \(a(h)\leq 0\), and \(\sqrt{-a}: F\to \mathbb{R}_+\), \(h\mapsto \sqrt{-a(h)}\) is a norm; (2) for any \((h,k)\in F^2\), \(a(h,k)^2\leq a(h)\cdot a(k)\), with equality iff \(H_h\) and \(H_k\) are homothetic; (3) if \((h,k)\in V^2\) such that \(a(h)> 0\) or \(a(k)> 0\), then \(a(h,k)^2\geq a(h)\cdot a(k)\) (Minkowski inequality), with equality iff \(H_h\) and \(H_k\) are homothetic. Additional results extend the classical isoperimetric inequality and Wirtinger's lemma to plane hedgehogs. For convex curves \(H_h\) some of the results are sharpened.