Packing convex bodies by cylinders (Q282761)

In the paper under review, the authors continue their work in relation to \textit{T. Bang}'s plank problem [Proc. Am. Math. Soc. 2, 990--993 (1951; Zbl 0044.37802)]. The problem asks whether the sum of the base areas of finitely many cylinders covering a \(3\)-dimensional convex body is at least half of the minimum area of a \(2\)-dimensional projection of the body. In [the authors, J. Geom. Anal. 19, No. 2, 233--243 (2009; Zbl 1175.52008)] this problem was investigated in the \(d\)-dimensional setting. In particular, Bang's conjecture was proved with constant one third instead of one half. In the present paper, several strong results on the packing counterpart of the above problems are given. The authors also extend their bounds to the case of \(r\)-fold coverings and packings and obtain a packing analog of \textit{K. J. Falconer}'s results [Math. Proc. Camb. Philos. Soc. 87, 81--96 (1980; Zbl 0424.28002)].