The kissing numbers of tetrahedra (Q1913596)

From MaRDI portal
scientific article
Language Label Description Also known as
English
The kissing numbers of tetrahedra
scientific article

    Statements

    The kissing numbers of tetrahedra (English)
    0 references
    22 May 1996
    0 references
    The author shows that there is a lattice packing of tetrahedra such that each tetrahedron contacts 18 others, and that any other packing lattice permits a smaller contact- or kissing-number. So he solves the lattice kissing number problem for the tetrahedron completely. The kissing number for the tetrahedron is remarkably larger than that of the 3-ball, which is 12 according to the famous Newton-Gregory problem. Another surprising phenomenon: The kissing number in the densest lattice packing of tetrahedron is 14, i.e. considerably smaller than the optimum; in contrast to the sphere-case.
    0 references
    lattice packing
    0 references
    kissing number problem
    0 references
    tetrahedron
    0 references
    0 references

    Identifiers