Maximizing the packing density on a class of almost periodic sphere packings (Q1925015)

An \(r\)-sphere packing \(S\) is a countable set of points in \(\mathbb{R}^d\) such that any two points have a distance \(\geq 2r\). Let \({\mathcal S}\) be the set of all sphere packings. On \({\mathcal S}\) a distance is defined which makes \({\mathcal S}\) into a complete metric space. For a specific sphere packing \(S\), let \(X_S\) be the closure of the orbit \(\mathbb{R}^d(S)= \{S+t\mid t\in\mathbb{R}^d\}\). If \(X_S\) is compact in \({\mathcal S}\), we get a dynamical system \((X_S,\mathbb{R}^d)\). Such a system is called almost periodic if, for every \(S\in{\mathcal S}\), the orbit is dense in \(X_S\), it is called uniquely ergodic if there exists exactly one \(\mathbb{R}^d\) invariant measure on \(X_S\), and strictly ergodic if it is uniquely ergodic and almost periodic. It is shown that the strictly ergodic packings have a well defined density. For a specific class of strictly ergodic sphere packings it is proved that the density attains its maximum on periodic packings. The author points out that the problem of finding dense packings is related to number theoretical questions. If the dynamical system is fixed, but the radius \(r\) is allowed to vary, the construction of packings with a simultaneous lower density bound has a relation to simultaneous diophantine approximation.