Convex bodies with minimal volume product in \(\mathbb{R}^2\) -- a new proof (Q710605)

Let \(K \subset \mathbb R^n \) be an origin-symmetric convex body, and \(K^* \) be its polar body. The volume product \({\mathcal P} (K)\) is defined as \({\mathcal P} (K)= \text{Vol}(K) \cdot \text{Vol}(K^*)\). Using the ``vertex removal method'', the authors propose a new proof of the Mahler conjecture in \(\mathbb R^2\) [see \textit{K. Mahler}, Mathematica B, Zutphen 7, 118--127 (1938; JFM 64.0732.01)]: \({\mathcal P} (K) \geq {\mathcal P}(B^2_{\infty})\). Here \(B^2_{\infty}=\{x\in \mathbb R^2 ; |x_1|<1, |x_2|<1\}\). It is worth mentioning that the proof of Lemma 3.2, page 3020, contains the following arguments: Let \(\phi:\mathbb R^2 \to \mathbb R^2\) be a linear transformation, and \(A'=(x_2, y_2) = \phi(A) \), \( B'=(x', y') = \phi(B) \), where \( A=(x_1, y_1) \) and \( B=(x,y) \), \( 0<x_2 < x_1 < x \). Since \(\phi\) is a linear transformation, \[ \frac{x}{x_1}=\frac{x'}{x_2} \qquad \frac{y}{y_1}=\frac{y'}{y_2}. \] These two proportions seem to be valid only in the case when the matrix of the linear transformation \(\phi \) has a diagonal form.