Related papers: Exploring a planet, revisited
In this paper, we study the distance problem in the setting of finite p-adic rings. In odd dimensions, our results are essentially sharp. In even dimensions, we clarify the conjecture and provide examples to support it. Surprisingly,…
We give an optimal bound for the remainder when counting the number of rational points on the $n$-dimensional sphere with bounded denominator for any $n\geq 2$.
This article focuses on the problem of analytically determining the optimal placement of five points on the unit sphere $\mathbb{S}^2$ so that the surface area of the convex hull of the points is maximized. It is shown that the optimal…
Two averaging algorithms are considered which are intended for choosing an optimal plane and an optimal circle approximating a group of points in three-dimensional Euclidean space.
Given two disjoint convex polyhedra, we look for a best approximation pair relative to them, i.e., a pair of points, one in each polyhedron, attaining the minimum distance between the sets. Cheney and Goldstein showed that alternating…
For $t \in [-1, 1)$, a set of points on the $(n-1)$-dimensional unit sphere is called $t$-almost equiangular if among any three distinct points there is a pair with inner product $t$. We propose a semidefinite programming upper bound for…
We analyze the properties of searches devoted to finding planetary transits by observing simple stellar systems, such as globular clusters, open clusters, and the Galactic bulge. We develop the analytic tools necessary to predict the number…
The convex feasibility problem consists in finding a point in the intersection of a finite family of closed convex sets. When the intersection is empty, a best compromise is to search for a point that minimizes the sum of the squared…
We improve the current best bound for distinct distances on non-ruled algebraic surfaces in ${\mathbb R}^3$. In particular, we show that $n$ points on such a surface span $\Omega\left(n^{32/39-\varepsilon}\right)$ distinct distances, for…
We give a simple proof of a recent result by Kleinbock and Merrill concerning intrinsic approximations on sphere, in the simplest case of two-dimensional sphere in $\mathbb{R}^3$.
In the classic circle packing problem, one asks whether a given set of circles can be packed into a given container. Packing problems like this have been shown to be $\mathsf{NP}$-hard. In this paper, we present new sufficient conditions…
The plausibility of an unseen planet in the outer solar system, and the expected orbit and mass of such a planet, have long been a topic of inquiry and debate. We calculate the long-term orbital stability of distant TNOs, which allows us to…
We develop a new approach to address some classical questions concerning the size and structure of integer distance sets. Our main result is that any integer distance set in the Euclidean plane is either very sparse or has all but an…
We use astrometry of Pluto and other TNOs to constrain the sky location, distance, and mass of the possible additional planet (Planet Nine) hypothesized by Batygin and Brown (2016). We find that over broad regions of the sky, the inclusion…
A sphere is a fundamental geometric object widely used in (computer aided) geometric design. It possesses rational parameterizations but no parametric polynomial parameterization exists. The present study provides an approach to the optimal…
In this paper, we examine how well a rational point P on an algebraic variety X can be approximated by other rational points. We conjecture that if P lies on a rational curve, then the best approximations to P on X can be chosen to lie…
We prove that the least-perimeter partition of the sphere into four regions of equal area is a tetrahedral partition.
We consider a problem posed by Erd\H{o}s, Herzog and Piranian on the maximum product of distances of a point set of order $n$ with a given diameter. We prove that it is sufficient to consider convex polygons and obtain results on the…
We study the problem of finding a triangulation T of a planar point set S such as to minimize the expected distance between two points x and y chosen uniformly at random from S. By distance we mean the length of the shortest path between x…
The Tammes problem delves into the optimal arrangement of $N$ points on the surface of the $n$-dimensional unit sphere (denoted as $\mathbb{S}^{n-1}$), aiming to maximize the minimum distance between any two points. In this paper, we…