The local Steiner problem in finite-dimensional normed spaces (Q878388)

In his pioneering work on Steiner minimal trees in finite-dimensional normed spaces [Rostock Math. Kolloq. 39, 89--93 (1990; Zbl 0737.05042); Steiner minimal trees. In: Nonconvex Optimization and Its Applications 23. Kluwer, Dordrecht (1998; Zbl 0997.05500)], D. Cieslik conjectured that the maximal degree, \(d(\mathbb M^n)\), of any Steiner minimal trees in an \(n\)-dimensional normed space \(\mathbb M^n\) satisfies \(d(\mathbb M^n) \leq 2^{n+1}-2\) with equality if and only if the unit ball of \(\mathbb M^n\) is a certain zonotope \(Z_n\). This zonotope is the dual of \(S_n-S_n\) where \(S_n\) is the standard \(n\)-simplex (the convex hull of the basis vectors and the origin) [see the reviewer's book ``Minkowski geometry'', Cambridge (1996; Zbl 0868.52001), pp. 24--27 for details of these norms]. The main result here is that this conjecture is partially false in that the maximal degree in \((\mathbb R^n, Z_n)\) is bounded by \({n+2\choose\lfloor(n+2)/2\rfloor}\). The method of proof, using subdifferential calculus, is especially interesting. The paper ends with a short section dealing with Steiner minimal trees in a space whose norm is the sum of the \(\ell_1\)-norm and a small multiple of the \(\ell_2\)-norm.