Grünbaum’s uneven orthogonal partition conjecture for convex bodies

Determine whether every planar convex body of area one admits, for every target t with 0≤t≤1/4, two perpendicular lines whose four cyclically ordered regions have areas t, t, 1/2−t, and 1/2−t.

Background

The paper proves that the analogous assertion for general line-null probability measures is false by constructing smooth, strictly positive, centrally symmetric, strongly log-concave counterexamples. In contrast, the convex-body version remains unresolved and is conjectured to have a positive answer.

The paper establishes the conjecture for several symmetric classes, including convex bodies possessing an orientation-reversing affine automorphism; this includes all triangles and trapezoids. The unresolved question concerns arbitrary planar convex bodies.

References

Theorem~\ref{thm:counterintro} settles B ar any's general-measure question, but Gr"unbaum's convex-body problem remains open. The corollaries in Section \ref{sec:convex} deal with triangles and trapezoids.

Counterexamples and symmetry for uneven orthogonal mass partitions in the plane  (2609.16757 - Martínez-Sandoval, 15 Sep 2026) in Section ‘Discussion and further directions’, subsection ‘Remaining questions’

The next natural test case is that of general convex quadrilaterals, which remains open. We believe this family could yield new insights on the problem.

\begin{problem}\label{prob:quadri} Does every convex quadrilateral satisfy Gr\"unbaum's conjecture for every target? \end{problem}

Counterexamples and symmetry for uneven orthogonal mass partitions in the plane  (2609.16757 - Martínez-Sandoval, 15 Sep 2026) in Problem \ref{prob:quadri}, Section ‘Discussion and further directions’, subsection ‘Remaining questions’

Our counterexamples are constructed separately for each $t\in(0,1/4)$, so the possible behavior of the target set for a single measure remains open.

\begin{problem}\label{q:targets} For a fixed line-null probability measure $\mu$, let

T(\mu)= \left{ t\in[0,1/4]: \text{$\mu$ admits the prescribed orthogonal partition at target $t$} \right}.

What sets can occur as $T(\mu)$? What additional structure does $T(\mu)$ have for regular measures, or for uniform measures on convex bodies? \end{problem}

Counterexamples and symmetry for uneven orthogonal mass partitions in the plane  (2609.16757 - Martínez-Sandoval, 15 Sep 2026) in Problem \ref{q:targets}, Section ‘Discussion and further directions’, subsection ‘Remaining questions’