Optimally dense packings of hyperbolic space (Q1826902)

The most natural notion of the density of a packing \(P\) in space \(S\) (Euclidean or hyperbolic) is given by \[ \lim_{k\to\infty}\,{\text{vol}(P\cap S_k)\over \text{vol}(S_k)},\tag{\(*\)} \] where \(S_k\) is a sequence of regions of finite volume with \(S_k\subset S_{k+1}\) and \(\bigcup_k S_k= \mathbb{S}\). However, examples show this to be problematic even in Euclidean space. Optimal density is even harder to define, and in hyperbolic space \(\mathbb{H}\) there exists not yet a completely satisfactory definition. In a former paper [Discrete Comput. Geom. 29, No. 1, 23--29 (2003; Zbl 1018.52016)] the authors defined a notion of ``optimal density'' through the use of probability measures on a space of packings, invariant under the congruence group of \(\mathbb{H}\). But the limit \((*)\) was only proved to exist for a sequence \(S_k\) of expanding spheres centred at a countable set of points. Here, using an extension of Nero's ergodic theorem they can extend their proof to all centres in \(\mathbb{H}\).