A unified approach to Penner, Ptolemy, and Casey's theorems in several dimensions

Isabella Lewis; Ian Short

Home/Archive/arXiv

arXiv · 2605.23430

A unified approach to Penner, Ptolemy, and Casey's theorems in several dimensions

Isabella Lewis·Ian Short

View original source ↗Read source document ↗Export metadata ↓

Abstract

We prove Penner's theorem on horocycles and theorems of Ptolemy and Casey, all with full converses, in hyperbolic space of several dimensions. Recently Waddle observed that the equations underpinning these three theorems are related, and it is this viewpoint that we advance, using the Lorentzian model of hyperbolic space. We show that all three theorems can be derived from a common Gram-matrix calculation applied to lightlike, timelike, and spacelike vectors. Remarkably, our approach gives a version of Casey's theorem in the plane with a full converse, involving three geometric alternatives, which to our knowledge has not previously been recorded.

Explore related subjects

math.MG

Keep this discovery

Explore connections, maps & timelines

BibTeX RIS

Isabella Lewis, Ian Short. 2026-05-22. A unified approach to Penner, Ptolemy, and Casey's theorems in several dimensions. https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.23430

Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.

KEEP EXPLORING

Related papers

arXiv2026

From the Steiner Inellipse to the John Ellipsoid of a Simplex: A Corner-Volume Characterization

For a triangle of area $T$, a planar corner-area characterization states that an interior point $M$ lies on the Steiner inellipse precisely when the three corner triangles cut off by the lines through $M$ parallel to the sides have areas $T_1,T_2,T_3$ satisfying $$ T_1+T_2+T_3=\frac12 T. $$ We give the corresponding statement for a simplex in arbitrary dimension. If $S$ is a nondegenerate $n$-simplex of volume $V$ and $V_1(M),\ldots,V_{n+1}(M)$ are the volumes of the facet-parallel corner simplices determined by $M$, then $$ M\in\partial E_J(S) \quad\Longleftrightarrow\quad \sum_{i=1}^{n+1}V_i(M)^{2/n}=\frac1n V^{2/n}, $$ where $E_J(S)$ is the John ellipsoid of $S$. We also identify the entire corner-volume functional with the central second-moment quadratic of the uniform simplex. The novelty claimed here is limited to the corner-volume formulations and their connections with the planar Steiner-inellipse result; the underlying barycentric, covariance, and John-ellipsoid facts are classical.

math.MG↗

arXiv2026

The $L_p$ Minkowski problem for $C$-close sets: existence and continuity

Let $C$ be a pointed closed convex cone in $\mathbb{R}^n$ with nonempty interior, and let $S^{n-1}$ denote the unit sphere in $\mathbb{R}^n$. The $L_p$ Minkowski problem for $C$-close sets is to determine, for a real number $p$ and a nonzero finite Borel measure $μ$ defined on $Ω_{C^\circ}=S^{n-1}\cap \mathrm{int} C^{\circ}$, whether there exists a $C$-close set $\mathds{A}$ such that $μ$ is the $L_p$ surface area measure of $\mathds{A}$. In this paper, we will solve the problem for $p\in (0,1)$ and for $μ$ being a nonzero finite Borel measure on $Ω_{C^\circ}$. Moreover, we establish the continuity of solutions to the $L_p$ Minkowski problem for $p\in [0, 1]$ in several settings.

math.MG↗

arXiv2026

Convergence of metric measure spaces via embeddings in the Urysohn universal space

We study different notions of convergence of metric measure spaces by means of isometric embeddings into the Urysohn universal metric space $\mathbb U$. Due to the universality of $\mathbb U$, the collection $\mathbb X_1$ of isomorphism classes of normalised metric measure spaces can be canonically identified with the quotient (set) $\mathscr P_\sim(\mathbb U)=\mathscr P(\mathbb U)/\sim$ of the space $\mathscr P(\mathbb U)$ of Borel probability measures on $\mathbb U$, where $μ\simν$ if $ν$ is the pushforward of $μ$ under an isometry between their respective supports. By making crucial use of the ultrahomogeneity of $\mathbb U$, we show that, under the above identification, Gromov's box topology on $\mathbb X_1$ coincides with the quotient topology induced by the weak topology of $\mathscr P(\mathbb U)$. More quantitatively, the truncated $1$-Wasserstein distance on $\mathscr P(\mathbb U)$ induces a complete and separable distance ${\sf d}_{\rm mG}$ on $\mathbb X_1\cong\mathscr P_\sim(\mathbb U)$, which metrises the quotient topology of $\mathscr P_\sim(\mathbb U)$ and is Hölder equivalent to the box distance $\square$.

math.MG↗