Variations on Steiner's porism (Q2363602)

Let \(m\) and \(l\) be nonintersecting circles. A finite set of circles \(\{c_1,\dots,c_n\}\) such that, for every \(i\), \(c_i\) is tangent to both \(m\) and \(l\) and \(c_i\) is tangent to \(c_{i+1}\) is called an (open) Steiner chain. If, in addition, \(c_1\) is tangent to \(c_n\) then the set is called a closed Steiner chain. Steiner, in the 19th century, proved that, for two given nonintersecting circles \(m\) and \(l\), if there exists a closed Steiner chain of \(n\) circles, then there exists an infinite number of such chains. Moreover, every circle simultaneously tangent to \(m\) and \(l\) gives rise to one of such chains. In this paper, the authors generalize the idea of Steiner chain beginning with more than two circles and then they find an analogue to the Steiner porism in their setting. They close the paper stating a couple of naturally arising open questions.