Minimality of planes in normed spaces

We prove that a region in a two-dimensional affine subspace of a normed space $V$ has the least 2-dimensional Hausdorff measure among all compact surfaces with the same boundary. Furthermore, the 2-dimensional Hausdorff area density admits a convex extension to $\Lambda^2 V$. The proof is based on a (probably) new inequality for the Euclidean area of a convex centrally-symmetric polygon.Comment: 10 pages, v2: minor changes according to referees' comments, to appear in GAF

Profiles of inflated surfaces

We study the shape of inflated surfaces introduced in \cite{B1} and \cite{P1}. More precisely, we analyze profiles of surfaces obtained by inflating a convex polyhedron, or more generally an almost everywhere flat surface, with a symmetry plane. We show that such profiles are in a one-parameter family of curves which we describe explicitly as the solutions of a certain differential equation.Comment: 13 pages, 2 figure

The connected components of the space of Alexandrov surfaces

Denote by $\mathcal{A}(\kappa)$ the set of all compact Alexandrov surfaces with curvature bounded below by $\kappa$ without boundary, endowed with the topology induced by the Gromov-Hausdorff metric. We determine the connected components of $\mathcal{A}(\kappa)$ and of its closure

Spectral stability of metric-measure Laplacians

We consider a "convolution mm-Laplacian" operator on metric-measure spaces and study its spectral properties. The definition is based on averaging over small metric balls. For reasonably nice metric-measure spaces we prove stability of convolution Laplacian's spectrum with respect to metric-measure perturbations and obtain Weyl-type estimates on the number of eigenvalues

Filling minimality of Finslerian 2-discs

We prove that every Riemannian metric on the 2-disc such that all its geodesics are minimal, is a minimal filling of its boundary (within the class of fillings homeomorphic to the disc). This improves an earlier result of the author by removing the assumption that the boundary is convex. More generally, we prove this result for Finsler metrics with area defined as the two-dimensional Holmes-Thompson volume. This implies a generalization of Pu's isosystolic inequality to Finsler metrics, both for Holmes-Thompson and Busemann definitions of Finsler area.Comment: 16 pages, v2: improved introduction and formattin

Relative entropy as a measure of inhomogeneity in general relativity

We introduce the notion of relative volume entropy for two spacetimes with preferred compact spacelike foliations. This is accomplished by applying the notion of Kullback-Leibler divergence to the volume elements induced on spacelike slices. The resulting quantity gives a lower bound on the number of bits which are necessary to describe one metric given the other. For illustration, we study some examples, in particular gravitational waves, and conclude that the relative volume entropy is a suitable device for quantitative comparison of the inhomogeneity of two spacetimes.Comment: 15 pages, 7 figure

A Non-Riemannian Metric on Space-Time Emergent From Scalar Quantum Field Theory

We show that the two-point function \sigma(x,x')=\sqrt{} of a scalar quantum field theory is a metric (i.e., a symmetric positive function satisfying the triangle inequality) on space-time (with imaginary time). It is very different from the Euclidean metric |x-x'| at large distances, yet agrees with it at short distances. For example, space-time has finite diameter which is not universal. The Lipschitz equivalence class of the metric is independent of the cutoff. \sigma(x,x') is not the length of the geodesic in any Riemannian metric. Nevertheless, it is possible to embed space-time in a higher dimensional space so that \sigma(x,x') is the length of the geodesic in the ambient space. \sigma(x,x') should be useful in constructing the continuum limit of quantum field theory with fundamental scalar particles