Some constructions of restricted Kakeya sets

Abstract

In this paper, we consider Kakeya sets with the additional restriction that centers of the unit line segments belong to a given set. In particular, for every uncountable Borel set $A\subset {\mathbb{R}}^d$, $d\ge 2$, we construct a compact subset of ${\mathbb{R}}^d$ of Lebesgue measure zero that contains, in every direction, a unit line segment whose center lies in $A$. Notice that every such Kakeya set (not even necessarily compact) must have positive Lebesgue measure if $A$ is countable. So our result shows that the countability is in fact the only obstruction.

10 pages. 2 figures, results from the 2026 SUSTech Undergraduate Summer Research Program in Real Analysis