Neighborliness of the symmetric moment curve

Abstract

We consider the convex hull B_k of the symmetric moment curve U(t)=(cos t, sin t, cos 3t, sin 3t, ..., cos (2k-1)t, sin (2k-1)t) in R^{2k}, where t ranges over the unit circle S= R/2pi Z. The curve U(t) is locally neighborly: as long as t_1, ..., t_k lie in an open arc of S of a certain length phi_k>0, the convex hull of the points U(t_1), ..., U(t_k) is a face of B_k. We characterize the maximum possible length phi_k, proving, in particular, that phi_k > pi/2 for all k and that the limit of phi_k is pi/2 as k grows. This allows us to construct centrally symmetric polytopes with a record number of faces.