Why there is no an existence theorem for a convex polytope with prescribed directions and perimeters of the faces?

Abstract

We choose some special unit vectors \({\mathbf {n}}_1,\ldots ,{\mathbf {n}}_5\) in \({\mathbb {R}}^3\) and denote by \({\mathscr {L}}\subset {\mathbb {R}}^5\) the set of all points \((L_1,\ldots ,L_5)\in {\mathbb {R}}^5\) with the following property: there exists a compact convex polytope \(P\subset {\mathbb {R}}^3\) such that the vectors \({\mathbf {n}}_1,\ldots ,{\mathbf {n}}_5\) (and no other vector) are unit outward normals to the faces of P and the perimeter of the face with the outward normal \({\mathbf {n}}_k\) is equal to \(L_k\) for all \(k=1,\ldots ,5\). Our main result reads that \({\mathscr {L}}\) is not a locally-analytic set, i.e., we prove that, for some point \((L_1,\ldots ,L_5)\in {\mathscr {L}}\), it is not possible to find a neighborhood \(U\subset {\mathbb {R}}^5\) and an analytic set \(A\subset {\mathbb {R}}^5\) such that \({\mathscr {L}}\cap U=A\cap U\). We interpret this result as an obstacle for finding an existence theorem for a compact convex polytope with prescribed directions and perimeters of the faces.