Placing and moving spheres in the gaps of a cylinder packing (Q1179482)
From MaRDI portal
scientific article
Language | Label | Description | Also known as |
---|---|---|---|
English | Placing and moving spheres in the gaps of a cylinder packing |
scientific article |
Statements
Placing and moving spheres in the gaps of a cylinder packing (English)
0 references
26 June 1992
0 references
The closeness of a packing is defined as the reciprocal of the supremum of the radius of a ball contained in the complement of the packing of \(\mathbb{R}^ 3\) with infinite circular cylinders of radius 1 equals \(\rho^{-1}=3+2\sqrt 3\), and, up to an isometry, the packing of maximum closeness is unique. The authors prove: If in a packing of \(\mathbb{R}^ 3\) no two cylinders are parallel, then, for any two balls of radius \(\rho\) non-overlapping with any of the cylinders, each of the balls can move between the cylinders to assume the other ball's place, without overlapping with any of the cylinders during the motion. This theorem can be strengthened concerning the position of the cylinders (Remark 1); it can also be generalized to \(n\) dimensions (Remark 2).
0 references
packings in 3 dimensions
0 references
cylinder packings
0 references
Euclidean geometry
0 references