On translative coverings of convex bodies (Q470407)

In this paper the authors consider \textit{translative coverings} of a convex body, defined as families of proper translates of the body, covering it, and examine some other related concepts. This problem is a variant of the classical problem of covering a convex body by its smaller positive homothetical copies, introduced by Hadwiger. If \(K\) is a convex body, let \(t(K)\) (respectively, \(h(K)\)) denote the minimum number of proper translates (respectively, smaller positive homothetic copies)of \(K\), covering \(K\), and note that \(t(K) \leq h(K)\) for every convex body. After a preliminary part, in Section 2 the authors investigate how the boundary of \(K\) can be covered by proper translates of the body. In particular, the prove that it can be carried out with \(t(K)\) number of translates. For centrally symmetric, strictly convex planar bodies they prove generalizations of Tiţeica's and Miquel's theorems. In Section 3 they define a similar variant of the classical illumination problem. They say that a point \(x \in K\) is \(t\)-\textit{illuminated} by a direction \(\delta\), if there is some (not necessarily interior) point \(y \in K\) such that the vector \(\overrightarrow{xy}\) has direction \(\delta\). The smallest number of directions \(t\)-illuminating every point of \(K\) is denoted by \(i(K)\). The authors prove that for every convex body \(K\), the inequality \(i(K) \leq t(K)\) holds and, if, in particular, \(K\) is strictly convex or planar, \(iK) = t(K)\). Nevertheless, they describe a counterexample showing that, in general, \(i(K) < t(K)\) holds for some convex body \(K\). In Section 4 the authors investigate the problem of characterizing the convex bodies \(K\) with the property that \(t(K) = h(K)\). Finally, in Section 5 they prove bounds on the values of \(t(K)\).