Estimating the critical determinants of a class of three-dimensional star bodies

In the problem of (simultaneous) Diophantine approximation in ℝ3 (in the spirit of Hurwitz’s theorem), lower bounds for the critical determinant of the special three-dimensional body K2 : (y2 + z2)(x2 + y2 + z2) ≤ 1 play an important role; see [1], [6]. This article deals with estimates from below for the critical determinant ∆ (Kc) of more general star bodies Kc : (y2 + z2)c/2(x2 + y2 + z2) ≤ 1 ; where c is any positive constant. These are obtained by inscribing into Kc either a double cone, or an ellipsoid, or a double paraboloid, depending on the size of c.