On the Hadwiger numbers of centrally symmetric starlike disks (Q1005915)

A \textit{topological disk} is a compact subset of \(\mathbb{R}^2\) with a simple, closed, continuous curve as its boundary. The \textit{Hadwiger number} of a topological disk \(S\) is the maximal number of translates of \(S\) that intersect \(S\), but whose interiors are pairwise disjoint and do not intersect the interior of \(S\). \textit{O. Cheong} and \textit{M. Lee} [Discrete Comput. Geom. 37, No. 4, 497--501 (2007; Zbl 1126.52018)] proved that Hadwiger numbers of topological disks can be arbitrarily large. A topological disk \(S\) is called \textit{starlike} if it contains a point \(p\) such that for every \(q\in S\) the disk \(S\) contains the line segment joining \(p\) and \(q\). A topological disk \(S\) is called \textit{centrally symmetric} if \(-S\) is a translate of \(S\). \textit{A. Bezdek, K. Kuperberg} and \textit{W. Kuperberg} [Duke Math. J. 78, No. 1, 19--31 (1995; Zbl 0829.52008)] conjectured that the Hadwiger number of a starlike disk is at most \(8\). \textit{A. Bezdek} [Bolyai Soc. Math. Stud. 6, 237--245 (1997; Zbl 0886.52004)] proved that it is at most \(75\). The main purpose of the paper is to prove that the Hadwiger number of a centrally symmetric starlike disk is at most \(12\).