Visibility properties of spiral sets (Q2165897)

Define a spiral in \(\mathbb R^{d+1}\) as a set of the form \(\{\sqrt[d+1]{n}\cdot\mathbf u_n\}_{n\ge 1}\), where \((\mathbf u_n)_{n\ge 1}\) is a sequence in the \(d\)-dimensional unit sphere. Such discrete point sets appear in the modelisation of phyllotactic models (i.e., in the modelisation of configurations of leaves on a plant stem) and have been studied in this respect. Recently, \textit{S. Akiyama} [Nonlinearity 33, No. 5, 2533--2540 (2020; Zbl 1487.37050)] initiated a systematic study of their distribution properties, and in the planar case \(d=1\), he established necessary and sufficient conditions for the spiral obtained from a circle sequence to be both uniformly discrete and relatively dense. Its higher dimensional extension was established by \textit{F. Adiceam} [Enseign. Math. (2) 68, No. 1--2, 25--60 (2022; Zbl 1493.52005)]. The goal of this paper is to study distribution properties of spiral sets from a complementary standpoint, namely, from that of so-called visibility problems in discrete geometry which quantify in suitable senses the density of a point set. More precisely, the goal is to establish necessary and sufficient conditions for a spiral set to become arbitrarily close to line segments, provided they are long enough. This can be formalised in several distinct ways; an orchard (a ``homogeneous'' density property defined by Pólya), a uniform orchard (a concept introduced in this work), a set with no visible point (implying that the point set is dense enough in a suitable sense) and a dense forest (a quantitative and uniform refinement of the previous concept).