Characterizing the dual mixed volume via additive functionals

Integral representations are obtained of positive additive functionals on finite products of the space of continuous functions (or of bounded Borel functions) on a compact Hausdorff space. These are shown to yield characterizations of the dual mixed volume, the fundamental concept in the dual Brunn-Minkowski theory. The characterizations are shown to be best possible in the sense that none of the assumptions can be omitted. The results obtained are in the spirit of a similar characterization of the mixed volume in the classical Brunn-Minkowski theory, obtained recently by Milman and Schneider, but the methods employed are completely different

Fully representable and *-semisimple topological partial *-algebras

We continue our study of topological partial *-algebras, focusing our attention to *-semisimple partial *-algebras, that is, those that possess a {multiplication core} and sufficiently many *-representations. We discuss the respective roles of invariant positive sesquilinear (ips) forms and representable continuous linear functionals and focus on the case where the two notions are completely interchangeable (fully representable partial *-algebras) with the scope of characterizing a *-semisimple partial *-algebra. Finally we describe various notions of bounded elements in such a partial *-algebra, in particular, those defined in terms of a positive cone (order bounded elements). The outcome is that, for an appropriate order relation, one recovers the \M-bounded elements introduced in previous works.Comment: 26 pages, Studia Mathematica (2012) to appea

Minkowski Functional Description of Microwave Background Gaussianity

A Gaussian distribution of cosmic microwave background temperature fluctuations is a generic prediction of inflation. Upcoming high-resolution maps of the microwave background will allow detailed tests of Gaussianity down to small angular scales, providing a crucial test of inflation. We propose Minkowski functionals as a calculational tool for testing Gaussianity and characterizing deviations from it. We review the mathematical formalism of Minkowski functionals of random fields; for Gaussian fields the functionals can be calculated exactly. We then apply the results to pixelized maps, giving explicit expressions for calculating the functionals from maps as well as the Gaussian predictions, including corrections for map boundaries, pixel noise, and pixel size and shape. Variances of the functionals for Gaussian distributions are derived in terms of the map correlation function. Applications to microwave background maps are discussed.Comment: 24 pages with 2 figures. Submitted to New Astronom