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Questions tagged [mg.metric-geometry]

Euclidean, hyperbolic, discrete, convex, coarse geometry, metric spaces, comparisons in Riemannian geometry, symmetric spaces.

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Injectivity radius on complete manifolds with positive and bounded curvature

I have two question: 1) Are there any examples of complete manifold with strictly positive and bounded section curvature which has zero injectivity radius? 2) Is there a sequence of non-compact ...
Yuchen Bi's user avatar
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1 answer
513 views

An isoperimetric-type inequality inside a cube

I am looking for a reference for the following inequality: if $\Omega \subset [0,1]^d$ satisfies $\mbox{vol}(\Omega) \leq 1/2$, then $$ \mathcal{H}^{d-1}\left( \partial\Omega \cap (0,1)^d\right) \geq ...
Stefan Steinerberger's user avatar
8 votes
1 answer
772 views

Upper bound of the kissing number in n dimensions

In geometry, a kissing number is defined as the number of non-overlapping unit spheres that can be arranged such that they each touch another given unit sphere. Let $\tau_n$ be the kissing number ...
Sebastien Palcoux's user avatar
8 votes
3 answers
188 views

Ball ricochetting from a plane of close-packed spheres

Suppose the lower $z \le 0$ halfspace of $\mathbb{R}^3$ is filled with a rigid close-packing of unit-radius spheres. (I don't think it matters much for my purposes if it is an FCC or an HCP packing.)...
Joseph O'Rourke's user avatar
8 votes
2 answers
339 views

Angle subtended by the shortest segment that bisects the area of a convex polygon

Let $C$ be a convex polygon in the plane and let $s$ be the shortest line segment (I believe this is called a "chord") that divides the area of $C$ in half. What is the smallest angle that $s$ could ...
Tom Solberg's user avatar
8 votes
1 answer
673 views

Estimating the Volume of the Metric Polytope

A metric on $n$ points $N$ can be represented as a vector $x \in \mathbb{R}_+^{n \choose 2}$. For each pair of distinct $i, j \in N$, we have $d(i,j) = d(j,i) = x_{i,j}$. The set of all metrics is ...
Aaron's user avatar
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1 answer
398 views

Möbius-invariant triangle center?

Given any two points x and y on a circle O, one can form four different lenses (regions between two circles, one of which is O) that have corners at x and y and make angles of 2π/3 at their corners. ...
David Eppstein's user avatar
8 votes
2 answers
287 views

Does the surface area of the unit Lp ball go to zero for all $p < \infty$?

We know about volume: The $L_{\infty}$ ball of radius one-half, i.e. the hypercube, has volume $1$ in all dimensions. On the other hand, I believe that for every $1 \leq p < \infty$, the volume of ...
usul's user avatar
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8 votes
2 answers
181 views

What must a set of $n$ points in 2D space fulfill so that it is possible to connect them through tangent circles

In high-school I learned how to find the circles that connect points in 2D space forming a curve made out of tangent circles like this: (The green line shows the "initial direction" of the ...
dino's user avatar
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1 answer
516 views

An approach to showing hyperbolic groups are CAT(0)

I've been sitting on this idea for quite a while but I'm not in academia any longer so not likely to ever tackle it on my own. The approach is as follows: $G$ acts on its boundary $\partial G$ ergo, $...
BGroff's user avatar
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4 answers
2k views

How to interpret couplings in optimal transport?

Let $\mu$ and $\nu$ be two measures on some (at least measurable) space $X$. In optimal transport theory, Monge's problem to $$ \text{minimize} \quad \int c(x,T(x))\mu(dx) \quad \text{over measurable ...
vaoy's user avatar
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8 votes
2 answers
320 views

Area method in Lobachevskian geometry

There are many proofs in Euclidean geometry using the area method; for example, Ceva's theorem or the proof of Pythagorean theorem shown below. Do you know such proofs in hyperbolic geometry? I ...
Anton Petrunin's user avatar
8 votes
1 answer
441 views

Axioms of length

Assume I want to define length of plane curves axiomatically. It seems to be reasonable to assume that The length of a unit segment is 1; Congruent curves have equal lengths; Length is additive with ...
Anton Petrunin's user avatar
8 votes
2 answers
256 views

What is the probability that these sets intersect?

Let $A$ be the subset of $\mathbb{R}^n$ defined by $A=\{x\in\mathbb{R}^{n}:|x_{1}-x_{n}|+\sum_{i=1}^{n-1}|x_{i+1}-x_{i}|\leq d\}$ for a given $d$. Next, sample a point $p$ uniformly in the unit cube, ...
Tom Solberg's user avatar
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1 answer
629 views

Bi-Lipschitz version of Kirszbraun's extension theorem

Kirszbraun's theorem for $\mathbb{R}^2$ states the following: Given any set $S\subset \mathbb{R}^2$ and any Lipschitz function $f:S\rightarrow \mathbb{R}^2$ with Lipschitz constant $k$, $0< k<...
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1 answer
417 views

Orthonormal bases of R^3 with components lying in the golden field

Greg Egan proved an interesting theorem about unit vectors in $\mathbb{R}^3$ whose components actually lie in the 'golden field' $\mathbb{Q}[\sqrt{5}]$. He found it in our studies of twin dodecahedra:...
John Baez's user avatar
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8 votes
1 answer
412 views

Embedding Euclidean buildings into products of trees

A Euclidean building has a natural metric space structure. (A definition of Euclidean building can be found on Wikipedia, or, more expansively, in Section 4 of Kleiner-Leeb.) Question: Is it true ...
user65993's user avatar
8 votes
1 answer
573 views

Do elements of the fundamental group give rise to isometries

Let $X$ be a complex algebraic variety, and let $\tilde X\to X$ be its universal cover. Suppose that there exists a Kahler-Einstein metric on $\tilde X$. Note that $\pi_1(X) \subset Aut(\tilde X)$. ...
Leertje's user avatar
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1 answer
384 views

Hilbert metric and cross-ratio of points on simplices

Background and motivation: Consider the cone $C\subset \mathbb{R}^d$ of vectors with non-negative components, and let $\Delta\subset C$ be the simplex of probability vectors (those for which $\sum ...
Vaughn Climenhaga's user avatar
8 votes
3 answers
3k views

Reconstructing an Euclidean point cloud from their pairwise distances

I have a collection of points $P_1, ..., P_N$ in some Euclidean space $\mathbb R^m$ and the coordinates $x_1, x_2, ..., x_N$ respectively associated with them, where $x_i$ is the usual Cartesian tuple ...
Jiahao Chen's user avatar
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8 votes
1 answer
721 views

Is the Cheeger constant of an induced subgraph of a cube at most 1?

It is known that the Cheeger constant of a hypercube graph $Q_n$ is exactly $1$, regardless of its dimension $n$. Is $1$ also an upper bound on the Cheeger constant of nontrivial induced connected ...
psd's user avatar
  • 266
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1 answer
885 views

Maximal tetrahedra inscribed in ellipsoid

Pietro Majer quoted the theorem of Michel Chasles in his MO question, "Convex curves with many inscribed triangles maximizing perimeter," which states that the triangles of maximum perimeter inscribed ...
Joseph O'Rourke's user avatar
8 votes
1 answer
359 views

Can any rectangle be inscribed in any convex figure?

Can any rectangle be inscribed in any convex figure?
Dan Brumleve's user avatar
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1 answer
700 views

Upper bound for tetrahedron packing?

There have been several recent advances on packing regular tetrahedra in $\mathbb{R}^3$. All the results I've seen have been lower bounds -- first John Conway and Sal Torquato showed that there ...
Matthew Kahle's user avatar
8 votes
1 answer
2k views

Can the algebraic closure of a complete field be complete and of infinite degree?

Yes, this is yet another "foundational" question in valuation theory. Here's the background: it is a well known classical fact that the dimension (in the purely algebraic sense) of a real ...
Pete L. Clark's user avatar
8 votes
1 answer
530 views

Whitney's approximation theorem for Lipschitz manifolds

In the smooth setting, Whitney's approximation theorem says the following: If $M,N$ are smooth manifolds and $f,g:M\to N$ are smooth functions that are continuously homotopic (ie there is a continuous ...
No-one's user avatar
  • 1,149
8 votes
1 answer
646 views

Is there a nonelementary hyperbolic group without this transitivity property?

Some background (see e.g. the books by Ghys & de la Harpe or Bridson & Haefliger for more information): Let $\Gamma$ be a group with a finite symmetric generating set $S$. Recall that $\Gamma$...
Jairo Bochi's user avatar
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8 votes
1 answer
515 views

When a Riemannian manifold with boundary is an Alexandrov space?

Let $M$ be a smooth Riemannian manifold (without boundary). Let $X\subset M$ be a smooth compact submanifold with boundary, $\dim X=\dim M$. Under what conditions $X$, equipped with the induced ...
asv's user avatar
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8 votes
1 answer
224 views

Translative packing constant strictly larger than lattice packing constant

Simply put, my question is this: what is the smallest dimension, if any, where we can know for sure that a convex body exists whose translative packing constant is strictly larger than its lattice ...
Yoav Kallus's user avatar
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8 votes
2 answers
289 views

Distortion of tree embedding in Alexandrov spaces

It is a well-known theorem first proved by Bourgain that any map $\varphi:T_n\to H$ from the binary tree of height $n$ to a Hilbert space has distortion at least $C \sqrt{\ln n}$ where $C$ is a ...
Benoît Kloeckner's user avatar
8 votes
2 answers
991 views

Higher-order axiomatisations of Euclidean Geometry?

I am currently thinking about the possibility to axiomatise Euclidean Geometry using higher-order axioms. The idea is that all objects are points, and that we only have two primitive notions: A three ...
Marcos Cramer's user avatar
8 votes
2 answers
490 views

Continuous point map for spherical domains

Consider the space $J$ of Jordan domains on the sphere $\textbf{S}^2$, i.e., continuous injective maps from the unit disk into $\textbf{S}^2$ modulo homeomorphisms of the disk. How can one construct a ...
Mohammad Ghomi's user avatar
8 votes
2 answers
278 views

Symmetries of contractable subsets of $\Bbb R^n$

Let $K\subset\Bbb R^n$ be a non-empty compact subset of $\Bbb R^n$. A symmetry of $K$ is an isometry of $\Bbb R^n$ that fixes $K$ set-wise. Since $K$ is compact, there is always a point $x\in\Bbb R^n$ ...
M. Winter's user avatar
  • 13.6k
8 votes
2 answers
803 views

a Littlewood–Offord-type problem concerning the "cubical lattice"

Fix even $n$ and consider the boolean function $f : \{0, 1\}^n \rightarrow \{0, 1\}$, $f : (x_0, \ldots , x_{n - 1}) \mapsto (x_0 \vee x_1) \wedge (x_2 \vee x_3) \wedge \cdots \wedge (x_{n - 2} \vee ...
BD107's user avatar
  • 63
8 votes
1 answer
284 views

Length and curvature for closed curves in negatively curved spaces

In the Euclidean plane, for a closed smooth curve of length $\ell$ whose curvature is bounded above by $\epsilon$ we have the inequality $$ \ell \ge 2\pi \epsilon^{-1} $$ which follows from the fact ...
Jean Raimbault's user avatar
8 votes
1 answer
400 views

Multidimensional gluing theorem for Riemannian manifolds

I would like to understand whether the following multidimensional (partial) generalization of the A.D. Alexandrov gluing theorem is true and, if yes, whether there is a reference. (The original ...
asv's user avatar
  • 21.8k
8 votes
1 answer
177 views

Differentiability of geodesics in Alexandrov subspaces of Riemannian manifolds

Let $M$ be a smooth Riemannian manifold. Let $X\subset M$ be a closed path connected subset which has curvature bounded below in the sense of Alexandrov with respect to the induced intrinsic metric. ...
asv's user avatar
  • 21.8k
8 votes
1 answer
537 views

$C^1$ regularity of harmonic functions on Riemannian manifolds

Consider a smooth, connected and complete Riemannian manifold $M$. It is well known that harmonic functions defined on some open subset of $M$ are $C^\infty$. I'm interested in knowing whether there ...
Nicola Gigli's user avatar
8 votes
1 answer
881 views

Gromov-Hausdorff convergence for non-compact metric spaces

Let $(X_i,p_i)$, $(X,p)$ be pointed connected proper metric spaces (i.e. the closures of balls are compact). Are the following two statements equivalent? $\forall r > 0: \bar{B}_r(p_i) \stackrel{...
dg.jan's user avatar
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8 votes
1 answer
1k views

Dubins car shortest paths: Decidable?

A Dubins car follows a Dubins path in $\mathbb{R}^2$, with constant wheel speed and limited turning radius. It is known that the shortest Dubins path in the absence of obstacles follows circular arcs ...
Joseph O'Rourke's user avatar
8 votes
1 answer
416 views

Areas of Triangles in (Non-Riemannian) Metric spaces?

I'm looking for a reasonable way to coherently axiomatize both length and area in the absence of a Riemannian structure, i.e., starting only with a metric space; but it's not clear how much of this ...
Vidit Nanda's user avatar
  • 15.5k
8 votes
1 answer
375 views

Convex bodies with symmetric shadows

Theorem. If all orthogonal projections of a convex body $K \subset \mathbb{R}^n$ onto $2$-dimensional subspaces have a center of symmetry, then $K$ has a center of symmetry. This is a classic result ...
alvarezpaiva's user avatar
  • 13.5k
8 votes
1 answer
591 views

Polyhedra that combinatorially shadow a sequence

Let $P$ be a polyhedron in $\mathbb{R}^3$. Say that $P$ combinatorially shadows a sequence of natural numbers $S$ if there is a continuous rotation of $P$ such that its orthogonal-projection shadows ...
Joseph O'Rourke's user avatar
8 votes
1 answer
787 views

The rain hull and the rain ridge

Rain falls steadily on an island, a 2-manifold $M$, which you may assume, as you prefer, is: (a) smooth, or (b) a PL-manifold, or perhaps even (c) a triangulated irregular network (TIN). After a time,...
Joseph O'Rourke's user avatar
8 votes
1 answer
199 views

minimal diameter of full preimage of torus

Given a set $A\subset \mathbb{R}^n$ such that $A\cap (x+\mathbb{Z}^n)\ne \emptyset$ for any $x\in \mathbb{R}^n$ (that is, $p(A)=\mathbb{T}^n$ for the projection $p:\mathbb{R}^n\rightarrow \mathbb{T}^...
Fedor Petrov's user avatar
8 votes
2 answers
621 views

Generalization of Hamiltonian cycles to "Hamiltonian spheres"

One possible generalization of a Hamiltonian cycle in a triangulated plane graph is what could be called a Hamiltonian sphere: a collection of triangles within a simplicial complex in $\mathbb{R}^3$ ...
Joseph O'Rourke's user avatar
8 votes
2 answers
577 views

Coiling Rope in a Box: Decidable?

Is the problem Coiling Rope in a Box decidable? To be specific, is this decidable? Given $L > 0$ and $r \in (0,\frac{1}{2})$, both rational, can a rope of length $L$ and radius $r$ fit ...
Joseph O'Rourke's user avatar
8 votes
1 answer
556 views

A variation on "Hearing the shape of a drum" for polytopes.

Let $\varphi:\mathcal S^{d-1}\longrightarrow \mathbb R_{>0}$ be a strictly positive function describing the boundary $\varphi(\mathbf x)\mathbf x,\mathbf x\in\mathbb S^{d-1}$ of a $d-$dimensional ...
Roland Bacher's user avatar
8 votes
1 answer
381 views

Estimating flat norm distance from a planar disc

Let $D\subset\mathbb R^2\subset\mathbb R^n$ be a unit planar disc in $\mathbb R^n$. Let $S$ be an orientable two-dimensional surface in $\mathbb R^n$ such that $\partial S=\partial D$. Of course, we ...
Sergei Ivanov's user avatar

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