Three-dimensional antipodal and norm-equilateral sets (Q996167)

The paper characterizes three-dimensional normed (Minkowski) spaces admitting at least 6 or at least 7 equidistant points. It is shown that there exist \(C^\infty\) norms in three dimensions admitting 6 equidistant points, contrary to a conjecture of \textit{G. Lawlor} and \textit{F. Morgan} [Pac. J. Math. 166, 55--83 (1994; Zbl 0830.49028)]. On the other hand no differentiable norm in 3 dimensions admit 7 equidistant points. A crucial component in the proof is a classification of all three-dimensional antipodal sets. The results have been applied to the touching numbers of several three-dimensional convex bodies.