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I have a couple of questions of the same nature related to the perimeters of metric balls in $\mathbb{R}^n$. By perimeter, I mean the notion of perimeter reffered by the Caccioppoli definition, i.e. the perimeter of $E \subseteq \mathbb{R}^n$ in an open set $\Omega$ is the total variation of its characteristic function on that open set.

  1. Must the metric ball $B_d(x, \delta) \subseteq \mathbb{R}^n$ have finite perimeter for any distance function $d$?
  2. Same question, but this time $d$ being a distance induced by a norm $\|\cdot\|$ on $\mathbb{R}^n$.
maxbo
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  • This isn't my area, but I just wanted to say, you can choose any non-empty $\Omega \subseteq \Bbb{R}^n$ you wish, and there exists a metric whose open ball (or closed ball) is equal to this $\Omega$. All you do is define$$d(x, y) = \begin{cases} 0 & \text{if } x = y \ 1 & \text{otherwise if }x, y \in \Omega \ 2 & \text{otherwise.} \end{cases}$$and any (open or closed) ball of radius $1.5$ centred in $\Omega$ is equal to $\Omega$. I would imagine that this answers your first question in the negative, but I can't be sure. – Theo Bendit Jul 19 '21 at 16:49
  • That's a good point! I had the intuition that the first question should be false. After your comments, I was looking for a similar result for a norm $| \cdot |$. Any closed ball in $\mathbb{R}^n$ is convex (https://math.stackexchange.com/questions/137738/proving-that-closed-and-open-balls-are-convex). Conversely, any bounded, open, convex, and the centre symmetry set having centre at 0 will induce a norm (https://math.stackexchange.com/questions/137738/proving-that-closed-and-open-balls-are-convex). This might help answer the second point. – maxbo Jul 19 '21 at 17:01

1 Answers1

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Fix a norm $|\cdot| : \mathbb{R}^{d} \to [0,\infty)$ on $\mathbb{R}^{d}$. Recall that $\|\cdot\|$ is equivalent to the Euclidean norm $\|\cdot\|$, that is, there is a $C > 1$ such that \begin{equation*} C^{-1} \|v\| \leq |v| \leq C\|v\| \quad \text{if} \, \, v \in \mathbb{R}^{d}. \end{equation*} Hence $v \mapsto |v|$ is Lipschitz as $||w| - |v|| \leq |w - v| \leq C\|w - v\|$. By the co-area formula, \begin{equation*} \int_{\{y \in \mathbb{R}^{d} \, \mid \, |y| \leq 1\}} \|D|\cdot|(x)\| \, dx = \int_{0}^{1} P(\{y \in \mathbb{R}^{d} \, \mid \, |y| = r\}) \, dr \end{equation*} Hence there is an $r \in (0,1)$ such that $P(\{y \in \mathbb{R}^{d} \, \mid \, |y| = r\}) < \infty$. At the same time, for any $s > 0$, we have \begin{equation*} P(\{y \in \mathbb{R}^{d} \, \mid \, |y| = r\}) = P(r s^{-1} \{y \in \mathbb{R}^{d} \, \mid \, |y| = s\}) = (r s^{-1})^{d-1} P(\{y \in \mathbb{R}^{d} \, \mid \, |y| = 1\}). \end{equation*} Thus, the $|\cdot|$-ball centered at the origin has finite perimeter, no matter the radius. Perimeter is translation-invariant, though, so any ball has finite perimeter, no matter the center or the radius.

Another proof I can think of uses the fact that if $C_{1}, C_{2}$ are convex sets and $C_{1} \subseteq C_{2}$, then $P(C_{1}) \leq P(C_{2})$: see here, for instance. I suspect there are other easier proofs.

Edit: It's worth remarking that the argument above shows any convex set $C$ has locally finite perimeter.

First, note that if $C$ has empty interior, then it is contained in an affine hyperplane. In this case, $C$ has Lebesgue measure zero so it trivially has finite perimeter. We assume henceforth that $C$ has nonempty interior.

Note that if $C$ is convex, then $\text{int}(C)$ is also convex. Let us show, then, that open convex sets have locally finite perimeter. One concludes by arguing that $C \setminus \text{int}(C)$ has zero Lebesgue measure.

Fix $x_{0} \in C$ and $R > 0$ arbitrary. Define the Minkowski gauge $\psi_{R}$ by \begin{equation*} \psi_{R}(y) = \inf \left\{ \alpha \, \mid \, \alpha^{-1} y \in (C - x_{0}) \cap B(0,R) \right\}. \end{equation*} It is well-known (see, for example, Brezis's functional analysis textbook) that $\psi_{R}$ is a Finsler norm: it is convex and one-homogeneous. (It satisfies all the hypotheses of a norm, except for symmetry.) In particular, as in the case of a genuine norm, $\psi_{R}$ is Lipschitz.

Arguing as above, we see that $\{y \in \mathbb{R}^{d} \, \mid \, \psi_{R}(y) = s\}$ has finite perimeter for each $s \in (0,\infty)$. Translating (and setting $s = 1$), this implies that $C \cap B(x_{0},R)$ has finite perimeter. Given that this is true for all $R > 0$, we conclude $C$ has finite perimeter.

(Other proofs might be shorter, but recently I find working with gauges makes proving things easier.)

  • Thank you, that's really helpful ! I have also come across an argument proving that a convex set must have locally finite perimeter (https://mathoverflow.net/questions/355693/every-convex-set-is-of-locally-finite-perimeter). Since in $\mathbb{R}^n$, closed balls induced by a norm are convex and compact, I guess we can deduce that they are also of finite perimeter. – maxbo Jul 20 '21 at 12:09
  • That claim --- convex sets have locally finite perimeter --- is related to your question about norms. I added an edit explaining why. –  Jul 20 '21 at 22:15