Extremal Problems in Minkowski Space related to Minimal Networks

We solve the following problem of Z. F\"uredi, J. C. Lagarias and F. Morgan [FLM]: Is there an upper bound polynomial in $n$ for the largest cardinality of a set S of unit vectors in an n-dimensional Minkowski space (or Banach space) such that the sum of any subset has norm less than 1? We prove that |S|\leq 2n and that equality holds iff the space is linearly isometric to \ell^n_\infty, the space with an n-cube as unit ball. We also remark on similar questions raised in [FLM] that arose out of the study of singularities in length-minimizing networks in Minkowski spaces.Comment: 6 pages. 11-year old paper. Implicit question in the last sentence has been answered in Discrete & Computational Geometry 21 (1999) 437-44

Helly-type Theorems for Hollow Axis-aligned Boxes

A hollow axis-aligned box is the boundary of the cartesian product of $d$ compact intervals in R^d. We show that for d\geq 3, if any 2^d of a collection of hollow axis-aligned boxes have non-empty intersection, then the whole collection has non-empty intersection; and if any 5 of a collection of hollow axis-aligned rectangles in R^2 have non-empty intersection, then the whole collection has non-empty intersection. The values 2^d for d\geq 3 and 5 for d=2 are the best possible in general. We also characterize the collections of hollow boxes which would be counterexamples if 2^d were lowered to 2^d-1, and 5 to 4, respectively.Comment: 7 pages. Old paper from 199

Equilateral sets and a Sch\"utte Theorem for the 4-norm

A well-known theorem of Sch\"utte (1963) gives a sharp lower bound for the ratio between the maximum distance and minimum distance between n+2 points in n-dimensional Euclidean space. In this brief note we adapt B\'ar\'any's elegant proof of this theorem to the space $\ell_4^n$. This gives a new proof that the largest cardinality of an equilateral set in $\ell_4^n$ is n+1, and gives a constructive bound for an interval $(4-\epsilon_n,4+\epsilon_n)$ of values of p close to 4 for which it is guaranteed that the largest cardinality of an equilateral set in $\ell_p^n$ is n+1.Comment: 7 pages. Some technical details adde

The number of small-degree vertices in matchstick graphs

A matchstick graph is a crossing-free unit-distance graph in the plane. Harborth (1981) proposed the problem of determining whether there exists a matchstick graph in which every vertex has degree exactly $5$. In 1982, Blokhuis gave a proof of non-existence. A shorter proof was found by Kurz and Pinchasi (2011) using a charging method. We combine their method with the isoperimetric inequality to show that there are $\Omega(\sqrt{n})$ vertices in a matchstick graph on $n$ vertices that are of degree at most $4$, which is asymptotically tight

ARRANGEMENTS OF HOMOTHETS OF A CONVEX BODY II

A family of homothets of an o-symmetric convex body K in d-dimensional Euclidean space is called a Minkowski arrangement if no homothet contains the center of any other homothet in its interior. We show that any pairwise intersecting Minkowski arrangement of a d-dimensional convex body has at most 2 . 3(d) members. This improves a result of Polyanskii (Discrete Mathematics 340 (2017), 1950-1956). Using similar ideas, we also give a proof the following result of Polyan- skii: Let , K-1, ... ,K-n be a sequence of homothets of the o-symmetric convex body K, such that for any i < j, the center of K-j lies on the boundary of K-i. Then n = O(3(d)d)