The Stolarsky principle and energy optimization on the sphere (Q2413522)

In the paper under review the authors study the relation between the discrepancy of a point set $Z=\{z_1,z_2,\dots,z_N\}\subseteq \mathbb S^d$ on a sphere and the energy \[ E_F(Z)=\frac{1}{N^2}\sum_{i,j}^N F(z_i,z_j) \] for a given function $F:\mathbb S^d\times \mathbb S^d\rightarrow \mathbb R$. In case that $F$ is the distance function $F(x,y)=\|x,y\|$ such a relation is known as Stolarsky invariance principle which was proved by \textit{K. B. Stolarsky} [Proc. Am. Math. Soc. 41, 575--582 (1973; Zbl 0274.52012)]. In this paper, the authors prove several generalizations of the Stolarsky invariance principle and further explore the relation between the discrepancy and the energy of point sets on a sphere.