Leinster–Willerton magnitude conjecture for convex bodies

Let XRnX\subset\mathbb{R}^n be compact and convex, and let MX(R):=mag(X,Rd)\mathcal{M}_X(R):=\operatorname{mag}(X,R\cdot\mathrm{d}) for R>0R>0. For 0kn0\leq k\leq n, let Vk(X)V_k(X) denote the intrinsic volumes of XX, let ωk\omega_k be the volume of the kk-dimensional unit ball, and let volj\operatorname{vol}_j denote jj-dimensional volume. Leinster–Willerton magnitude conjecture. One should have

MX(R)=1n!ωnvoln(X)Rn+12(n1)!ωn1voln1(X)Rn1++1\mathcal{M}_X(R)=\frac{1}{n!\omega_n}\operatorname{vol}_n(X)R^n+\frac{1}{2(n-1)!\omega_{n-1}}\operatorname{vol}_{n-1}(\partial X)R^{n-1}+\cdots+1

with, equivalently,

MX(R)=k=0n1k!ωkVk(X)Rk.\mathcal{M}_X(R)=\sum_{k=0}^n\frac{1}{k!\omega_k}V_k(X)R^k.

Here ωk\omega_k is the volume of the kk-dimensional unit ball. This conjecture predicts that magnitude recovers the intrinsic volumes of a compact convex body, and in particular that its constant expansion coefficient agrees with the Euler characteristic. The general statement is presented as a long-standing problem, especially for compact domains in even-dimensional Euclidean spaces; the supplied text does not establish its resolution.

Sources & referencesView supporting material

Primary source

Heiko Gimperlein, Magnus Goffeng and Nikoletta Louca, “The magnitude and spectral geometry”, arXiv:2201.11363 (2025).

Additional references

3 papers in this index state this conjecture (2015–2022). The statement above is taken from the most recent of them; the others are arXiv:1706.06839, arXiv:1507.02502.

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