On the number of directions determined by the common tangents to a family of pairwise disjoint convex sets in the plane (Q2340406)

Let \(F\) be a family of \(n\) pairwise disjoint compact convex sets in the plane, and let \(d(F)\) be the number of directions determined by the tangents to pairs of sets of \(F\). Let \(d_n\) denote the minimum value of \(d(F)\) over some families of \(n\) elements. When \(F\) only ranges over the families of \(n\) points, \textit{P. Ungar} [J. Comb. Theory, Ser. A 33, 343--347 (1982; Zbl 0496.05001)] proved that \(d_n=n-1\) if \(n\) is odd, and \(d_n=n\) if \(n\) is even, and his proof makes use of the \textit{allowable permutation sequences} introduced by Goodman and Pollack. In this paper the author proves that \(d_n\geq n-1\) when \(F\) ranges over the families of convex bodies, and the \textit{allowable interval sequences} (also introduced by Goodman and Pollack) are fundamental for the proof. This bound is tight for \(n=6\), and nearly tight for \(n=3,4,5\). But he conjectures that it is not attained for any \(n>6\), and perhaps \(d_n=2n-1\) for \(n\geq 9\). He also thinks that \(d_n\geq 2n-2\) if \(F\) ranges over the families of \(n\) convex bodies with an interior transversal line.