English

Apollonian Circle Packings: Number Theory II. Spherical and Hyperbolic Packings

Number Theory 2008-12-08 v2

Abstract

Apollonian circle packings arise by repeatedly filling the interstices between mutually tangent circles with further tangent circles. In Euclidean space it is possible for every circle in such a packing to have integer radius of curvature, and we call such a packing an integral Apollonian circle packing. There are infinitely many different integral packings; these were studied in the paper \cite{GLMWY21}. Integral circle packings also exist in spherical and hyperbolic space, provided a suitable definition of curvature is used (see \cite{LMW02}) and again there are an infinite number of different integral packings. This paper studies number-theoretic properties of such packings. This amounts to studying the orbits of a particular subgroup \sA\sA of the group of integral automorphs of the indefinite quaternary quadratic form Q\sD(w,x,y,z)=2(w2+x2+y2+z2)(w+x+y+z)2Q_{\sD}(w, x, y, z)= 2(w^2+x^2 +y^2 + z^2) - (w+x+y+z)^2. This subgroup, called the Apollonian group, acts on integer solutions Q\sD(w,x,y,z)=kQ_{\sD}(w, x, y, z)=k. This paper gives a reduction theory for orbits of \sA\sA acting on integer solutions to Q\sD(w,x,y,z)=kQ_{\sD}(w, x, y, z)=k valid for all integer kk. It also classifies orbits for all k0(mod4)k \equiv 0 \pmod{4} in terms of an extra parameter nn and an auxiliary class group (depending on nn and kk), and studies congruence conditions on integers in a given orbit.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.math/0403296,
  title  = {Apollonian Circle Packings: Number Theory II. Spherical and Hyperbolic Packings},
  author = {Nicholas Eriksson and Jeffrey C. Lagarias},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:math/0403296},
  year   = {2008}
}

Comments

32 pages, 5 figures. To appear in the Ramanujan Journal. Proof of Thm 3.2 made more clear, otherwise small changes

R2 v1 2026-07-22T17:03:29.745Z