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Gruber P. Convex and Discrete Geometry

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68 <strong>Convex</strong> Bodies<br />

5 The Boundary of a <strong>Convex</strong> Body<br />

The boundary of a convex body may be investigated from many different viewpoints.<br />

One object of study concerns the smooth <strong>and</strong> the singular points. The size of the<br />

sets of the different types of singular points has been investigated from the measuretheoretic,<br />

the topological (Baire) <strong>and</strong> the metric (porosity) perspective. A related<br />

question concerns the first-order differentiability of the boundary. A deep result of<br />

Alex<strong>and</strong>rov deals with second-order differentiability.<br />

The notion of extreme <strong>and</strong> the more restrictive notion of exposed point play an<br />

important role both in finite dimensions, for example, in convex analysis, <strong>and</strong> in<br />

infinite dimensions <strong>and</strong> have been studied intensively.<br />

A further topic of research is Alex<strong>and</strong>rov’s theory based on the notion of intrinsic<br />

or geodesic metric on the boundary of a convex body. This is a sort of differential<br />

geometry without differentiability assumptions. We also mention Schäffer’s<br />

[882] investigations of the geometry of the unit sphere in finite-dimensional normed<br />

spaces.<br />

In the following we investigate regular, singular <strong>and</strong> extreme points <strong>and</strong> first<br />

<strong>and</strong> second-order differentiability properties, including Alex<strong>and</strong>rov’s theorem. An<br />

application deals with Birkhoff’s theorem on doubly stochastic matrices.<br />

For a more detailed discussion of smooth, singular <strong>and</strong> extreme points, see<br />

Schneider [907]. Some hints on the study of the geodesic metric will be made<br />

in Sect. 10.2. For a deeper study of smoothness <strong>and</strong> strict convexity in infinitedimensional<br />

spaces in the context of type <strong>and</strong> cotype theory, see the books of Pisier<br />

[802] <strong>and</strong> Tomczak-Jaegermann [1001].<br />

5.1 Smooth <strong>and</strong> Singular Boundary Points, Differentiability<br />

In this section, we investigate the size of the set of singular boundary points of a given<br />

convex body, using Hausdorff measure, Hausdorff dimension, <strong>and</strong> Baire categories,<br />

<strong>and</strong> then give the convex body version of Alex<strong>and</strong>rov’s differentiability theorem.<br />

Smooth <strong>and</strong> Singular Boundary Points<br />

Let C be a proper convex body <strong>and</strong> x ∈ bd C. By Theorem 4.1 there is a support<br />

hyperplane of C at x. If it is unique, x is called a smooth, regular or differentiable,<br />

otherwise a singular boundary point of C. If all boundary points of C are smooth, C<br />

is said to be smooth, differentiable, orregular. Theset<br />

NC(x) = � u : u · y ≤ u · x for all y ∈ C �<br />

consists of the origin o <strong>and</strong> all exterior normal vectors of support hyperplanes of<br />

C at x. It is a closed convex cone with apex o, as will be shown in the proof of<br />

Theorem 5.1. NC(x) is called the normal cone of C at x. The point x is smooth if <strong>and</strong><br />

only if the normal cone of C at x is simply a ray or, equivalently, has dimension 1.

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