Representing convex geometries by almost-circles

Finite convex geometries are combinatorial structures. It follows from a recent result of M.\ Richter and L.G.\ Rogers that there is an infinite set $T_{rr}$ of planar convex polygons such that $T_{rr}$ with respect to geometric convex hulls is a locally convex geometry and every finite convex geometry can be represented by restricting the structure of $T_{rr}$ to a finite subset in a natural way. An \emph{almost-circle of accuracy} $1-\epsilon$ is a differentiable convex simple closed curve $S$ in the plane having an inscribed circle of radius $r_1>0$ and a circumscribed circle of radius $r_2$ such that the ratio $r_1/r_2$ is at least $1-\epsilon$. % Motivated by Richter and Rogers' result, we construct a set $T_{new}$ such that (1) $T_{new}$ contains all points of the plane as degenerate singleton circles and all of its non-singleton members are differentiable convex simple closed planar curves; (2) $T_{new}$ with respect to the geometric convex hull operator is a locally convex geometry; (3) as opposed to $T_{rr}$, $T_{new}$ is closed with respect to non-degenerate affine transformations; and (4) for every (small) positive $\epsilon\in\real$ and for every finite convex geometry, there are continuum many pairwise affine-disjoint finite subsets $E$ of $T_{new}$ such that each $E$ consists of almost-circles of accuracy $1-\epsilon$ and the convex geometry in question is represented by restricting the convex hull operator to $E$. The affine-disjointness of $E_1$ and $E_2$ means that, in addition to $E_1\cap E_2=\emptyset$, even $\psi(E_1)$ is disjoint from $E_2$ for every non-degenerate affine transformation $\psi$.Comment: 18 pages, 6 figure

Around groups in Hilbert Geometry

This is survey about action of group on Hilbert geometry. It will be a chapter of the "Handbook of Hilbert geometry" edited by G. Besson, M. Troyanov and A. Papadopoulos.Comment: ~60 page

Problems on Polytopes, Their Groups, and Realizations

The paper gives a collection of open problems on abstract polytopes that were either presented at the Polytopes Day in Calgary or motivated by discussions at the preceding Workshop on Convex and Abstract Polytopes at the Banff International Research Station in May 2005.Comment: 25 pages (Periodica Mathematica Hungarica, Special Issue on Discrete Geometry, to appear

Positive Geometries and Differential Forms with Non-Logarithmic Singularities I

Positive geometries encode the physics of scattering amplitudes in flat space-time and the wavefunction of the universe in cosmology for a large class of models. Their unique canonical forms, providing such quantum mechanical observables, are characterised by having only logarithmic singularities along all the boundaries of the positive geometry. However, physical observables have logarithmic singularities just for a subset of theories. Thus, it becomes crucial to understand whether a similar paradigm can underlie their structure in more general cases. In this paper we start a systematic investigation of a geometric-combinatorial characterisation of differential forms with non-logarithmic singularities, focusing on projective polytopes and related meromorphic forms with multiple poles. We introduce the notions of covariant forms and covariant pairings. Covariant forms have poles only along the boundaries of the given polytope; moreover, their leading Laurent coefficients along any of the boundaries are still covariant forms on the specific boundary. Whereas meromorphic forms in covariant pairing with a polytope are associated to a specific (signed) triangulation, in which poles on spurious boundaries do not cancel completely, but their order is lowered. These meromorphic forms can be fully characterised if the polytope they are associated to is viewed as the restriction of a higher dimensional one onto a hyperplane. The canonical form of the latter can be mapped into a covariant form or a form in covariant pairing via a covariant restriction. We show how the geometry of the higher dimensional polytope determines the structure of these differential forms. Finally, we discuss how these notions are related to Jeffrey-Kirwan residues and cosmological polytopes.Comment: 47 pages, figures in Tik

Higher signature Delaunay decompositions

A Delaunay decomposition is a cell decomposition in R^d for which each cell is inscribed in a Euclidean ball which is empty of all other vertices. This article introduces a generalization of the Delaunay decomposition in which the Euclidean balls in the empty ball condition are replaced by other families of regions bounded by certain quadratic hypersurfaces. This generalized notion is adaptable to geometric contexts in which the natural space from which the point set is sampled is not Euclidean, but rather some other flat semi-Riemannian geometry, possibly with degenerate directions. We prove the existence and uniqueness of the decomposition and discuss some of its basic properties. In the case of dimension d = 2, we study the extent to which some of the well-known optimality properties of the Euclidean Delaunay triangulation generalize to the higher signature setting. In particular, we describe a higher signature generalization of a well-known description of Delaunay decompositions in terms of the intersection angles between the circumscribed circles.Comment: 25 pages, 6 figure