Separation bodies: a conceptual dual to floating bodies (Q784008)

Let \(K\) be a convex body (a compact, convex set with interior points) in Euclidean space \(\mathbf{R}^d\) and for a sufficiently small parameter \(\delta \ge 0\), the floating body \(K_{\delta}\) is defined as follows. For \(x\in K\) let \(v(x)= \min\left\{ V(K\cap H^+):\, \, x\in H^+, H^+ \text{ is a closed halfspace}\right\}\), where \(V\) is the volume. Let \(K(v\ge \delta)= \{x\in K: v(x)\ge \delta\}\). By the approach in [\textit{C. Schütt} and \textit{E. Werner}, Math. Scand. 66, No. 2, 275--290 (1990; Zbl 0739.52008)], for \(u\in S^{d-1}\) (the unit sphere of \(\mathbf{R}^d\)) and for sufficiently small \(\delta\ge 0\) there is a unique number \(t(u, \delta) \ge 0\) such that \(V(K\cap H^+(u, h(K, u) - t(u, \delta))) = \delta\), where \(h(K, \cdot)\) is the support function of \(K\) and \(H^+(u, \tau) =\{x\in\mathbf{R}^d: \langle x, u \rangle\ge \tau\}\) and \(H^-(u, \tau) =\{x\in\mathbf{R}^d: \langle x, u \rangle\le \tau\}\), with \(\langle \cdot, \cdot \rangle\) is the scalar product of \(\mathbf{R}^d\). Define the closed convex set \(K_{\delta} = \bigcap_{u\in S^{d-1}} H^-(u, h(K, u) - t(u, \delta))\). It is easy to see that \(K(v\ge \delta) = K_{\delta}\). For some historical remarks see [\textit{R. Schneider}, Convex bodies: the Brunn-Minkowski theory. 2nd expanded ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (2014; Zbl 1287.52001), Section 10.6]. The starting point in [Schütt and Werner, loc. cit.] was a formula of Blaschke for introducing the affine surface area of a three-dimensional convex body with analytic boundary, which was extended to higher dimensions and weaker smoothness assumptions by Leichtweiss (references are in [Schneider, loc. cit., Section 10.6]). In [Schütt and Werner, loc. cit.], this was further extended to general convex bodies. The aim of this paper is to introduce a modification of the illumination bodies of \(K\), which the author calls separation bodies. They are no longer affinely related to \(K\) (and hence cannot be expected to be relevant for the affine surface area), but can with good reasons be considered as a more proper dual to floating bodies. The starting point of this paper is the role of the floating body in stochastic geometry. It was introduced there to support the investigation of random polytopes which are generated as convex hulls of random points in a given convex body. The dual generation of random polytopes, namely as the intersection of random halfspaces containing a given convex body, calls for a conceptually dual construction.