Two characterizations of ellipsoidal cones

Abstract

We give two characterizations of cones over ellipsoids. Let $C$ be a closed pointed convex linear cone in a finite-dimensional real vector space. We show that $C$ is a cone over an ellipsoid if and only if the affine span of $\partial C \cap \partial(a - C)$ has dimension $\dim(C) - 1$ for every point $a$ in the relative interior of $C$. We also show that $C$ is a cone over an ellipsoid if and only if every bounded section of $C$ by an affine hyperplane is centrally symmetric.