Sphere packings. (Edited by John Talbot) (Q1805997)

Sphere packings is one of the most fascinating and challenging subjects in mathematics. It is the goal of Ch. Zong's book to prove this enthusiastic assertion (the first words in his book) and to give a broader insight into various aspects of this subject. The basic methods and ideas are covered in the book, which has 13 chapters. Some of the chapters consider the same topic under different aspects and with different methods. Their titles give the shortest description of the contents of the book: 1) Gregory-Newton problem and Kepler's conjecture, 2) Positive quadratic forms and lattice sphere packings, 3) Lower bounds for the packing densities of spheres, 4) Lower bounds for the blocking numbers and the kissing numbers of spheres, 5) Sphere packings constructed from codes, 6)--8) Upper bounds for the packing densities and the kissing numbers of spheres, 9) The kissing numbers of spheres in 8 and 24 dimensions, 10) Multiple sphere packings, 11) Holes in sphere packings, 12) Blocking light rays, 13) Finite sphere packings. At the end of several chapters are biographies of some of the most distinguished mathematician of this field. The book further has a useful and updated bibliography. The high amount of topics is reduced in a reasonable and economic way. So in spite of its rich contents the book is not too long and so it can be highly recommended not only for the researcher but also for advanced students. In particular it is also useful for lectures and seminars.