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Alexander Koldobsky - A functional analytic approach to the Busemann-Petty problem on sections of convex bodies



ALEXANDER KOLDOBSKY, University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio, Texas  78249, USA
A functional analytic approach to the Busemann-Petty problem on sections of convex bodies


The 1956 Busemann-Petty problem asks whether symmetric convex bodies in $\bf R^n$ with larger central hyperplane sections must also have greater volume. The solution to the problem has recently been completed, and the answer is negative if $n\ge 5$ and affirmative when $n\le 4$. We show a more general result, where the inequalities for the volume of central sections are replaced by similar inequalities for the derivatives of the parallel section functions. For example, if n is an even integer, K and L are origin-symmetric convex bodies in $\bf R^n$ with C(n-4)-boundaries and the (n-4)-th derivatives of the parallel section functions of K at zero (in every direction) are smaller than the corresponding derivatives for L, then $\textrm{vol}_n(K)\le \textrm{vol}_n(L)$. However, if n is odd, similar inequalities for the (n-5)-th derivatives do not necessarily imply that the volume of K is smaller.


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Next: Wlodzimierz Kuperberg - Packing Up: Convex Geometry / Géométrie Previous: Daniel Klain - An
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