Realization spaces of arrangements of convex bodies

Abstract

We introduce combinatorial types of arrangements of convex bodies, extending order types of point sets to arrangements of convex bodies, and study their realization spaces. Our main results witness a trade-off between the combinatorial complexity of the bodies and the topological complexity of their realization space. First, we show that every combinatorial type is realizable and its realization space is contractible under mild assumptions. Second, we prove a universality theorem that says the restriction of the realization space to arrangements polygons with a bounded number of vertices can have the homotopy type of any primary semialgebraic set.