The distance function from the boundary of a domain with corners

Abstract

We study the regularity of the distance function to the boundary of a domain in $\mathbb{R}^2$, with respect to some asymmetric norms. We allow the boundary of the domain to have corners. We obtain an explicit formula for the second derivative of these distance functions. Furthermore, we study a generalized notion of the ridge of a domain, which is the set of singularities of a distance function to the boundary of the domain. We completely characterize the ridge by using a generalized notion of curvature.