On the shadow boundary of a centrally symmetric convex body

Abstract

We discuss the concept of the shadow boundary of a centrally symmetric convex ball $K$ (actually being the unit ball of a Minkowski normed space) with respect to a direction $\mathbf{x}$ of the Euclidean n-space $R^n$. We introduce the concept of general parameter spheres of $K$ corresponding to this direction and prove that the shadow boundary is a topological manifold if all of the non-degenerated general parameter spheres are, too. In this case, using the approximation theorem of cell-like maps we get that they are homeomorphic to the $(n-2)$-dimensional sphere $S^{(n-2)}$. We also prove that the bisector (equidistant set of the corresponding normed space) in the direction $\mathbf{x}$ is homeomorphic to $R^{(n-1)}$ iff all of the non-degenerated general parameter spheres are $(n-2)$-manifolds implying that if the bisector is a homeomorphic copy of $R^{(n-1)}$ then the corresponding shadow boundary is a topological $(n-2)$-sphere.

11 pages, 1 figures