On the additivity of Newton-Okounkov bodies

Abstract

We study the additivity of Newton-Okounkov bodies. Our main result states that on two dimensional subcones of the ample cone the Newton-Okounkov body associated to an appropriate flag acts additively. We prove this by induction relying on the slice formula for Newton-Okounkov bodies. Moreover, we discuss a necessary condition for the additivity showing that our result is optimal in general situations. As an application, we deduce an inequality between intersection numbers of nef line bundles.