On the Hadwiger numbers of starlike disks

The Hadwiger number $H(J)$ of a topological disk $J$ in $\Re^2$ is the maximal number of pairwise nonoverlapping translates of $J$ that touch $J$. It is well known that for a convex disk, this number is six or eight. A conjecture of A. Bezdek., K. and W. Kuperberg says that the Hadwiger number of a starlike disk is at most eight. A. Bezdek proved that this number is at most seventy five for any starlike disk. In this note, we prove that the Hadwiger number of a starlike disk is at most thirty five. Furthermore, we show that the Hadwiger number of a topological disk $J$ such that (\conv J) \setminus J is connected, is six or eight.Comment: 13 pages, 8 figure

Ball and Spindle Convexity with respect to a Convex Body

Let $C\subset {\mathbb R}^n$ be a convex body. We introduce two notions of convexity associated to C. A set $K$ is $C$-ball convex if it is the intersection of translates of $C$, or it is either $\emptyset$, or ${\mathbb R}^n$. The $C$-ball convex hull of two points is called a $C$-spindle. $K$ is $C$-spindle convex if it contains the $C$-spindle of any pair of its points. We investigate how some fundamental properties of conventional convex sets can be adapted to $C$-spindle convex and $C$-ball convex sets. We study separation properties and Carath\'eodory numbers of these two convexity structures. We investigate the basic properties of arc-distance, a quantity defined by a centrally symmetric planar disc $C$, which is the length of an arc of a translate of $C$, measured in the $C$-norm, that connects two points. Then we characterize those $n$-dimensional convex bodies $C$ for which every $C$-ball convex set is the $C$-ball convex hull of finitely many points. Finally, we obtain a stability result concerning covering numbers of some $C$-ball convex sets, and diametrically maximal sets in $n$-dimensional Minkowski spaces.Comment: 27 pages, 5 figure

On a normed version of a Rogers-Shephard type problem

A translation body of a convex body is the convex hull of two of its translates intersecting each other. In the 1950s, Rogers and Shephard found the extremal values, over the family of n-dimensional convex bodies, of the maximal volume of the translation bodies of a given convex body. In our paper, we introduce a normed version of this problem, and for the planar case, determine the corresponding quantities for the four types of volumes regularly used in the literature: Busemann, Holmes-Thompson, and Gromov's mass and mass*. We examine the problem also for higher dimensions, and for centrally symmetric convex bodies