Flat shadow boundary characterization of ellipsoids

Let KRnK\subset\mathbb R^n, n3n\geq 3, be a convex body and let SS be a hypersurface that is the image of an embedding of the sphere Sn1\mathbb S^{n-1}, with KK contained in the interior of SS. Flat shadow boundary conjecture. If every point light source on SS creates a flat shadow boundary on KK, then KK is an ellipsoid. This extends known results for polyhedral enclosing hypersurfaces and for point sources in an open neighborhood of KK; the general case is presented as a central open problem.

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Primary source

Bartłomiej Zawalski, “On flat shadow boundaries from point light sources and the characterization of ellipsoids”, arXiv:2603.29130 (2026).

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