Self perimeter of convex sets

Abstract

This paper introduces a natural definition for the volume of the unit ball in $n$-dimensional normed spaces ${\mathbb{R}}^n$. This definition preserves the Euclidean relation $P(B)/V(B)=n$ between the perimiter and the volume of the unit ball $B$ in $R^n$. We show that this volume definition is invariant under origin-preserving affine transformations and polar duality. For $n=2$, we derive an explicit integral formula for the self-perimeter of the unit ball, extend it to non-centrally symmetric sets;. The construction is extended to ${\mathbb{R}}^n$ via a recursive integration over the boundary, utilizing $(n-1)$-dimensional volumes of planar intersections. Finally, we pose and discuss an Alexandrov-type problem for the associated surface measure, providing perturbative solutions in the 2D case. In particular we prove that, generically, any perturbation of the surface measure of the Euclidean 2-D disk yields a 4-fold symmetric convex set in the leading order.

20 pages