The star-surface support-cone characterization of ellipsoids

Let SRnS\subset \mathbb{R}^{n} be an embedding of Sn1\mathbb{S}^{n-1} in Rn\mathbb{R}^{n} that is OO-star, and let ϕ:SS\phi:S\to S map each point to the unique point on the ray from OO in the opposite direction. Let KRnK\subset \mathbb{R}^{n} be a convex body with n3n\geq 3, OintKO\in \operatorname{int}K, and KintSK\subset \operatorname{int}S. The star-surface support-cone conjecture. If, for every xSx\in S, there exists a hyperplane Π(x)\Pi(x) containing OO such that

S(K,x)S(K,ϕ(x))Π(x),S(K,x)\cap S(K,\phi(x))\subset \Pi(x),

then KK is an ellipsoid. The preceding theorem establishes the analogous assertion for an OO-symmetric ellipsoid, but the general convex-body problem is presented as an open problem.

Sources & referencesView supporting material

Primary source

E. Morales-Amaya, “Characterizations of ellipsoids by means of the strong intersection property”, arXiv:2505.08169 (2025).

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