Petty’s Conjecture Holds in Lₚ for 2 ≤ p ≤ 4: d+1 Equidistant Points in Every Dimension d
We prove Petty's conjecture for all finite-dimensional real \(L_p\) subspaces with \(2\le p\le4\). Every \(d\)-dimensional real linear subspace of \(L_p\), over any measure space, contains \(d+1\) equidistant points. More strongly, every equilateral subset extends to exactly \(d+1\) points, preserving its original points and common distance. Every equilateral set is affinely independent, so every maximal equilateral set has cardinality \(d+1\). This extends the \(2\le p\le4\) case of Kusner's conjecture from coordinate spaces to arbitrary subspaces and complements the constructions of linear excess for every fixed \(p>4\). The proof combines conditional positivity of the powered distance kernel, a circumradius estimate, and Brouwer's fixed-point theorem. The main theorems are formalised in Lean.
Authors
- Logan R. Chalmers (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0001-6468-3889)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Preprints.org
- Published
- 2026-10-26
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202610.2426.v1
- Primary Topic
- Point processes and geometric inequalities
- Type
- preprint