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Tomasz Kobos

Publications and source records attributed to Tomasz Kobos.

18 recordsLinked to original sources
arXiv2026

Exact Banach-Mazur distances of certain $\ell_p$-sums and cones

We determine certain Banach-Mazur distances involving $\ell_p$-direct sums of finite-dimensional real normed spaces and related cone constructions of convex bodies. Using a recent characterization of the optimal Banach-Mazur position with respect to the Euclidean ball, we derive a closed formula for the distance from $X_1 \oplus_p \cdots \oplus_p X_k$ to Euclidean space in terms of the distances of the spaces $X_i$ to Euclidean space. For $p = 1$ we show that if $d_{BM}(X,\ell_1^n) \leq 3$, then $d_{BM}(X \oplus_1 \ell_1^m, \ell_1^{n+m}) = d_{BM}(X,\ell_1^n)$. Interpreting $\ell_1$-sums geometrically as double cones motivates a study of single cones over arbitrary convex bases, for which we establish an analogous result with the simplex replacing $\ell_1$. We further show that in dimension $3$ the distance between single cones with symmetric bases equals the distance between the bases, and that the same equality holds for double cones over planar symmetric bases in arbitrary dimension, under an additional assumption on the distance of the bases to $\ell_1^2$. As consequences, we obtain an explicit isometric embedding of the $2$-dimensional symmetric Banach-Mazur compactum into the $3$-dimensional (non-symmetric) compactum and lift a recent construction of arbitrarily large equilateral sets in the $2$-dimensional symmetric compactum to all higher dimensions.

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arXiv2026

John-type decompositions for affinely-optimal positions of convex bodies

Many classical problems in convex geometry can be cast as optimization problems under certain containment conditions. The arguably best-understood example is volume-maximization of convex bodies contained in other convex bodies, where the John decomposition describes$\unicode{x2014}$and in the Euclidean case fully characterizes$\unicode{x2014}$the optimal positions. For many other such problems, however, no general optimality conditions are known. To address this, we generalize an approach of O. B. Ader to obtain a John-type decomposition as a necessary condition for affinely-optimal containment chains, i.e., chains $r L_1 + c \subseteq K \subseteq R L_2 + d$ for convex bodies $K, L_1, L_2 \subseteq \mathbb{R}^n$, translation vectors $c,d \in \mathbb{R}^n$, and reals $r,R > 0$ such that the ratio $\frac{R}{r}$ cannot be decreased by linearly transforming $K$. We again obtain sufficiency for optimality when ellipsoids are involved, and show how optimality conditions for various problems follow from our result. Our main applications concern the Banach-Mazur distance, where we provide necessary optimality conditions in the general case and a full characterization in the Euclidean case. Finally, we derive several consequences of these optimality conditions related to the Banach-Mazur distance to the Euclidean ball.

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arXiv2026

A Complex Analogue of Spencer's Six Standard Deviations Theorem and the Complex Banach-Mazur Distance

We investigate a complex analogue of Spencer's Six Standard Deviations Theorem. Specifically, we propose the following conjecture: for any dimension $n \geq 2$, given vectors $a_1, \ldots, a_n \in \mathbb{C}^n$ satisfying $\|a_i\|_{\infty} \leq 1$ for each $i=1, \ldots, n$, there exists a vector $x \in \mathbb{C}^n$ with all coordinates of modulus one such that $|\langle x, a_i \rangle| \leq \sqrt{n}$ for every $i=1, \ldots, n$. The bound of $\sqrt{n}$ is sharp, as demonstrated by the row vectors of any complex $n \times n$ Hadamard matrix. Furthermore, if the conjecture holds in dimension $n$, it implies that the Banach--Mazur distance between the complex $\ell_1^n$ and $\ell_{\infty}^n$ spaces is equal to $\sqrt{n}$. We prove the conjecture for $n =2, 3$, thereby establishing also that $d_{BM}(\ell_1^n, \ell_{\infty}^n) = \sqrt{n}$ for these dimensions. Additionally, we propose a conjecture about the Banach--Mazur distances between complex $\ell_p^n$ spaces and we verify it for $n=2$. This leads to a complete determination of all possible Banach--Mazur distances between complex $\ell_p^2$ spaces.

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arXiv2025

Spaces with the maximal projection constant revisited

Let $n \geq 2$ be an integer such that an equiangular set of vectors $w_1, \ldots, w_d$ of the maximal possible cardinality (in relation to the the general Gerzon upper bound) exists in $\mathbb{K}^n$, where $\mathbb{K}=\mathbb{R}$ or $\mathbb{K}=\mathbb{C}$ (i.e. $d=\frac{n(n+1)}{2}$ in the real and $d=n^2$ in the complex case). We provide a complete characterization of $n$-dimensional normed spaces $X$ having a maximal absolute projection constant among all $n$-dimensional normed spaces over $\mathbb{K}$. The characterization states that $X$ has a maximal projection constant if and only if it is isometric to a space, for which the unit ball of the dual space is contained between the absolutely convex hull of the vectors $w_1, \ldots, w_d$ and an appropriately rescaled zonotope generated by the same vectors. As a consequence, we obtain that in the considered situations, the case of $n=2$ and $\mathbb{K}=\mathbb{R}$ is the only one, where there is a unique norm in $\mathbb{K}^n$ (up to an isometry) with the maximal projection constant. In this case, the unit ball is an affine regular hexagon in $\mathbb{R}^2$.

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arXiv2025

$2$-strong uniqueness of a best approximation and of minimal projections in complex polytope norms and their duals

We study a property of $2$-strong uniqueness of a best approximation in a class of finite-dimensional complex normed spaces, for which the unit ball is an absolutely convex hull of finite number of points and in its dual class. We prove that, contrary to the real case, these two classes do not coincide but are in fact disjoint. We provide several examples of situations in these two classes, where a uniqueness of an element of a best approximation in a given linear subspace implies its $2$-strong uniqueness. In particular, such a property holds for approximation in an arbitrary subspace of the complex $\ell_1^n$ space, but not of the complex $\ell_{\infty}^n$ space. However, this is true in general under an additional assumption that a subspace has a real basis and an ambient complex normed space is generated by real vectors or functionals. We apply our results and related methods to establish some results concerned with $2$-strongly unique minimal projections in complex normed spaces, proving among other things, that a minimal projection onto a two-dimensional subspace of an arbitrary three-dimensional complex normed space is $2$-strongly unique, if its norm is greater than $1$.

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arXiv2025

Equilateral dimension of the planar Banach--Mazur compactum

We prove that there are arbitrarily large equilateral sets of planar and symmetric convex bodies in the Banach--Mazur distance. The order of the size of these $d$-equilateral sets asymptotically matches the bounds of the size of maximum-size $d$-separated sets (determined by Bronstein in 1978), showing that our construction is essentially optimal.

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arXiv2024

On Certain Extremal Banach-Mazur Distances and Ader's Characterization of Distance Ellipsoids

A classical consequence of the John Ellipsoid Theorem is the upper bound $\sqrt{n}$ on the Banach-Mazur distance between the Euclidean ball and any symmetric convex body in $\mathbb{R}^n$. Equality is attained for the parallelotope and the cross-polytope. While it is known that they are unique with this property for $n=2$ but not for $n \geq 4$, no proof of the characterization of the three-dimensional equality case seems to have ever been published. We fill this gap by showing that the parallelotope and the cross-polytope are the unique maximizers for $n=3$. Our proof is based on an extension of a characterization of distance ellipsoids due to Ader from $1938$, which predates the John Ellipsoid Theorem. Ader's characterization turns out to provide a decomposition similar to the John decomposition, which leads to a proof of the aforementioned $\sqrt{n}$ estimate that bypasses the concept of volumes and reveals precise information about the equality case. We highlight further consequences of Ader's characterization, including a proof of an unpublished result attributed to Maurey related to the uniqueness of distance ellipsoids. Additionally, we investigate more closely the role of the parallelogram as a maximizer in various problems related to the distance between planar symmetric convex bodies. We establish the stability of the parallelogram as the unique planar symmetric convex body with the maximal distance to the Euclidean disc with the best possible (linear) order. This uniqueness extends to the setting of pairs of planar $1$-symmetric convex bodies, where we show that the maximal possible distance between them is again $\sqrt{2}$, together with a characterization of the equality case involving the parallelogram.

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arXiv2023

On the Banach-Mazur Distance in Small Dimensions

We establish some results on the Banach-Mazur distance in small dimensions. Specifically, we determine the Banach-Mazur distance between the cube and its dual (the cross-polytope) in $\mathbb{R}^3$ and $\mathbb{R}^4$. In dimension three this distance is equal to $\frac{9}{5}$, and in dimension four, it is equal to 2. These findings confirm Xue's conjectures, which were based on numerical data. Additionally, in dimension two, we use the asymmetry constant to provide a geometric construction of a family of convex bodies that are equidistant to all symmetric convex bodies.

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arXiv2022

On the dimension of the set of minimal projections

Let $X$ be a finite-dimensional normed space and let $Y \subseteq X$ be its proper linear subspace. The set of all minimal projections from $X$ to $Y$ is a convex subset of the space all linear operators from $X$ to $X$ and we can consider its affine dimension. We establish several results on the possible values of this dimension. We prove optimal upper bounds in terms of the dimensions of $X$ and $Y$. Moreover, we improve these estimates in the polyhedral normed spaces for an open and dense subset of subspaces of the given dimension. As a consequence, in the polyhedral normed spaces a minimal projection is unique for an open and dense subset of hyperplanes. To prove this, we establish certain new properties of the Chalmers-Metcalf operator. Another consequence is the fact, that for every subspace of a polyhedral normed space, there exists a minimal projection with many norming pairs.

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arXiv2022

A uniform lower bound on the norms of hyperplane projections of spherical polytopes

Let $K$ be a centrally symmetric spherical and simplicial polytope, whose vertices form a $\frac{1}{4n}-$net in the unit sphere in $\mathbb{R}^n$. We prove a uniform lower bound on the norms of all hyperplane projections $P: X \to X$, where $X$ is the $n$-dimensional normed space with the unit ball $K$. The estimate is given in terms of the determinant function of vertices and faces of $K$. In particular, if $N \geq n^{4n}$ and $K = \conv \{ \pm x_1, \pm x_2, \ldots, \pm x_N \}$, where $x_1, x_2, \ldots, x_N$ are independent random points distributed uniformly in the unit sphere, then every hyperplane projection $P: X \to X$ satisfies an inequality $\|P\|_X \geq 1+c_nN^{-(2n^2+4n+6)}$ (for some explicit constant $c_n$), with the probability at least $1 - \frac{3}{N}.$

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arXiv2022

On non-linear mappings preserving the semi-inner product

We say that a smooth normed space $X$ has a property (SL), if every mapping $f:X \to X$ preserving the semi-inner product on $X$ is linear. It is well known that every Hilbert space has the property (SL) and the same is true for every finite-dimensional smooth normed space. In this paper, we establish several new results concerning the property (SL). We give a simple example of a smooth and strictly convex Banach space which is isomorphic to the space $\ell_p$, but without the property (SL). Moreover, we provide a characterization of the property (SL) in the class of reflexive smooth Banach spaces in terms of subspaces of quotient spaces. As a consequence, we prove that the space $\ell_p$ have the property (SL) for every $1 < p < \infty$. Finally, using a variant of the Gowers-Maurey space, we construct an infinite-dimensional uniformly smooth Banach space $X$ such that every smooth Banach space isomorphic to $X$ has the property (SL).

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arXiv2021

On length of the period of the continued fraction of $n\sqrt{d}$

For a given quadratic irrational $α$, let us denote by $D(α)$ the length of the periodic part of the continued fraction expansion of $α$. We prove that for a positive integer $d$, which is not a perfect square, the sequence $(D(n\sqrt{d}))_{n=1}^{\infty}$ has infinitely many limit points.

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arXiv2017

Stability result for the extremal Gr\"unbaum distance between convex bodies

In 1963 Gr\"unbaum introduced the following variation of the Banach-Mazur distance for arbitrary convex bodies $K, L \subset \mathbb{R}^n$: $d_G(K, L) = \inf \{ |r| \ : \ K' \subset L' \subset rK' \}$ with the infimum taken over all non-degenerate affine images $K'$ and $L'$ of $K$ and $L$ respectively. In 2004 Gordon, Litvak, Meyer and Pajor proved that the maximal possible distance is equal to $n$, confirming the conjecture of Gr\"unbaum. In 2011 Jim\'{e}nez and Nasz\'{o}di asked if the equality $d_G(K, L)=n$ implies that $K$ or $L$ is a simplex and they proved it under the additional assumption that one of the bodies is smooth or strictly convex. The aim of the paper is to give a stability result for a smooth case of the theorem of Jim\'{e}nez and Nasz\'{o}di. We prove that for each smooth convex body $L$ there exists $\varepsilon_0(L)>0$ such that if $d_G(K, L) \geq (1-\varepsilon)n$ for some $0 \leq \varepsilon \leq \varepsilon_0(L)$, then $d(K, S_n) \leq 1 + 40n^3r(\varepsilon)$, where $S_n$ is the simplex in $\mathbb{R}^n$, $r(\varepsilon)$ is a specific function of $\varepsilon$ depending on the modulus of the convexity of the polar body of $L$ and $d$ is the usual Banach-Mazur distance. As a consequence, we obtain that for arbitrary convex bodies $K, L \subset \mathbb{R}^n$ their Banach-Mazur distance is less than $n^2 - 2^{-22}n^{-7}$.

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arXiv2017

A uniform estimate of the relative projection constant

The main goal of the paper is to provide a quantitative lower bound greater than $1$ for the relative projection constant $λ(Y, X)$, where $X$ is a subspace of $\ell_{2p}^m$ space and $Y \subset X$ is an arbitrary hyperplane. As a consequence, we establish that for every integer $n \geq 4$ there exists an $n$-dimensional normed space $X$ such that for an every hyperplane $Y$ and every projection $P:X \to Y$ the inequality $||P|| > 1 + \left (8 \left ( n + 3 \right )^{5} \right )^{-30(n+3)^2}$ holds. This gives a non-trivial lower bound in a variation of problem proposed by Bosznay and Garay in $1986$.

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arXiv2014

Hyperplanes of finite-dimensional normed spaces with the maximal relative projection constant

The \emph{relative projection constant} $λ(Y, X)$ of normed spaces $Y \subset X$ is defined as $λ(Y, X) = \inf \{ ||P|| : P \in \mathcal{P}(X, Y) \}$, where $\mathcal{P}(X, Y)$ denotes the set of all continuous projections from $X$ onto $Y$. By the well-known result of Bohnenblust for every $n$-dimensional normed space $X$ and its subspace $Y$ of codimension $1$ the inequality $λ(Y, X) \leq 2 - \frac{2}{n}$ holds. The main goal of the paper is to study the equality case in the theorem of Bohnenblust. We establish an equivalent condition for the equality $λ(Y, X) = 2 - \frac{2}{n}$ and present several applications. We prove that every three-dimensional space has a subspace with the projection constant less than $\frac{4}{3} - 0.0007$. This gives a non-trivial upper bound in the problem posed by Bosznay and Garay. In the general case, we give an upper bound for the number of $(n-1)$-dimensional subspaces with the maximal relative projection constant in terms of the facets of the unit ball of $X$. As a consequence, every $n$-dimensional normed space $X$ has an $(n-1)$-dimensional subspace $Y$ with $λ(Y, X) < 2-\frac{2}{n}$. This contrasts with the seperable case in which it is possible that every hyperplane has a maximal possible projection constant.

math.FA↗
arXiv2014

Equilateral dimension of some classes of normed spaces

An equilateral dimension of a normed space is a maximal number of pairwise equidistant points of this space. The aim of this paper is to study the equilateral dimension of certain classes of finite dimensional normed spaces. The well-known conjecture states that the equilateral dimension of any $n$-dimensional normed space is not less than $n+1$. By using an elementary continuity argument, we establish it in the following classes of spaces: permutation-invariant spaces, Orlicz-Musielak spaces and in one codimensional subspaces of $\ell^n_{\infty}$. For smooth and symmetric spaces, Orlicz-Musielak spaces satisfying an additional condition and every $(n-1)$-dimensional subspace of $\ell^{n}_{\infty}$ we also provide some weaker bounds on the equilateral dimension for every space which is sufficiently close to one of these. This generalizes the result of Swanepoel and Villa concerning the $\ell_p^n$ spaces.

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arXiv2013

Around the Petty theorem on equilateral sets

The main goal of this paper is to provide an alternative proof of the following theorem of Petty: in the normed space of dimension at least three, every 3-element equilateral set can be extended to a 4-element equilateral set. Our approach is based on the result of Kramer and Németh about inscribing a simplex into a convex body. To prove the theorem of Petty, we shall also establish that for every 3 points in the normed plane, forming an equilateral set of the common distance $p$, there exists a fourth point, which is equidistant to the given points with the distance not larger than $p$. We will also improve the example given by Petty and obtain the existence of a smooth and strictly convex norm in $\mathbb{R}^n$, which contain a maximal 4-element equilateral set. This shows that the theorem of Petty cannot be generalized to higher dimensions, even for smooth and strictly convex norms.

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