Quantitative illumination of convex bodies and vertex degrees of geometric Steiner minimal trees

Two results are proved involving the quantitative illumination parameter B(d) of the unit ball of a d-dimensional normed space introduced by Bezdek (1992). The first is that B(d) = O(2dd2 log d). The second involves Steiner minimal trees. Let v(d) be the maximum degree of a vertex, and s(d) that of a Steiner point, in a Steiner minimal tree in a d-dimensional normed space, where both maxima are over all norms. Morgan (1992) conjectured that s(d) ≤ 2d, and Cieslik (1990) conjectured that v(d) ≤ 2(2d − 1). It is proved that s(d) ≤ v(d) ≤ B(d) which, combined with the above estimate of B(d), improves the previously best known upper bound v(d) < 3d.