-concave functions and a functional extension of mixed volumes

Abstract: Mixed volumes, which are the polarization of volume with respect to the Minkowski addition, are fundamental objects in convexity. In this note we announce the construction of mixed integrals, which are functional analogs of mixed volumes. We build a natural addition operation + on the class of quasi-concave functions, such that every class of alpha-concave functions is closed under +. We then define the mixed integrals, which are the polarization of the integral with respect to +. We proceed to discuss the extension of various classic inequalities to the functional setting. For general quasi-concave functions, this is done by restating those results in the language of rearrangement inequalities. Restricting ourselves to alpha-concave functions, we state a generalization of the Alexandrov inequalities in their more familiar form.

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Being a part of Brunn-Minkowski theory, mixed volumes of convex bodies are defined as polarizations of volume with respect to the Minkowski addition. The paper generalizes the theory in the following far-reaching setting. Convex bodies are replaced by \(\alpha\)-concave functions, where \(\alpha\) varies from \(-\infty\) to \(+\infty\). In turn, convex bodies appear as \(\alpha\)-concave functions for \(\alpha=\infty\). The smaller \(\alpha\) is, the bigger (by inclusion) class of functions we have. If \(\alpha=-\infty\), the functions are called quasi-concave and form the largest class. For them, a counterpart of dilation and Minkowski sum are introduced. As in the classical setting, this leads to functional extension of mixed volumes, the mixed integrals. The latter satisfy some generalization of Alexandrov inequalities.

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