14.02.2013 Views

Gruber P. Convex and Discrete Geometry

Gruber P. Convex and Discrete Geometry

Gruber P. Convex and Discrete Geometry

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS

Create successful ePaper yourself

Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.

31 Covering with <strong>Convex</strong> Bodies 455<br />

coverings with congruent balls play an essential role for Hausdorff approximation of<br />

convex bodies by polytopes.<br />

This section deals with lattice coverings <strong>and</strong> coverings with translates of convex<br />

bodies. We begin with definitions <strong>and</strong> elementary remarks. Then star numbers<br />

of coverings are considered. Next, the upper bound for minimum densities, due to<br />

Rogers, is given. Finally we touch the relation between coverings with translates <strong>and</strong><br />

lattice coverings.<br />

For more information, see the references cited at the beginning of Sect. 30 to<br />

which we add a survey of Fejes Tóth [324].<br />

31.1 Definitions, Existence of Thinnest Lattice Coverings <strong>and</strong> the Covering<br />

Criterion of Wills<br />

In this section we give definitions of coverings <strong>and</strong> covering density, state several<br />

simple properties of coverings <strong>and</strong> show the existence of lattice coverings with minimum<br />

density. In addition, we state the covering criterion of Wills.<br />

Covering with <strong>Convex</strong> Bodies <strong>and</strong> the Notion of Density<br />

A family of convex bodies in E d is a covering if their union equals E d . We consider<br />

only coverings by translates <strong>and</strong> lattice coverings of a given convex body C, i.e.<br />

coverings of the form {C + t : t ∈ T } <strong>and</strong> {C + l : l ∈ L} where T is a discrete<br />

set <strong>and</strong> L a lattice in E d , respectively. If {C + l : l ∈ L} is a lattice covering of C,<br />

then L is a covering lattice of C. The upper <strong>and</strong> lower density <strong>and</strong> the density of a<br />

discrete set or of a family of translates of a convex body are defined in Sect. 30.1.<br />

Corollary 30.1 says that the density δ(C, L) of a family {C + l : l ∈ L} of translates<br />

of a proper convex body by the vectors of a lattice L equals<br />

V (C)<br />

d(L) .<br />

Consider a covering by translates of a convex body. Cum grano salis, its density may<br />

be interpreted as the total volume of the bodies divided by the volume of E d ,oras<br />

the expectation of the number of bodies of the covering in which a r<strong>and</strong>om point of<br />

E d is contained.<br />

Given a convex body C, letϑT (C) <strong>and</strong> ϑL(C) denote the infima of the lower<br />

densities of all coverings by translates of C <strong>and</strong> of all lattice coverings of C, respectively.<br />

ϑT (C) <strong>and</strong> ϑL(C) are called the (minimum) translative covering density <strong>and</strong><br />

the (minimum) lattice covering density of C, respectively. Clearly,<br />

Existence of Thinnest Coverings<br />

1 ≤ ϑT (C) ≤ ϑL(C)

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!