Continuous accumulation games in continuous regions (Q5925748)

In a continuous accumulation game on a continuous region, a hider distributes material over a continuous region (an interval or a circle in the present work) at each instant of discrete time, and a seeker examines a portion of the region and confiscates the material in this portion. If the hider is able to accumulate a specified amount of material in a specified amount of time, the hider wins 1; otherwise it wins 0. In a previous work [J. Optimization Appl. 94, 395-408 (1970; Zbl 0889.90162)], the same authors studied accumulation games involving discrete objects in discrete locations. The game in the continuous case has a distinctly different character. It is observed that if the seeker is allowed to examine an open set of specified measure \(s\), then no matter how small \(s\) may be, seeker may choose a dense open subset, with the result that for every strategy of the hider the expected payoff is zero. Therefore in the remainder of the paper the seeker is restricted to examine only a connected subset of the region. Results are obtained for a variety of strategies by each of the players. The results are quite different for the two types of region, the boundary effect in the case of the interval giving the hider an advantage.