Computing upper bounds for the packing density of congruent copies of a convex body (Q2417583)

In the \(n\)-dimensional Euclidean space, a packing is an arrangement of congruent copies of a given convex body with pairwise disjoint interiors. The density of a packing is the fraction of the space filled by copies of the body. The authors study the question of the maximum density of the packing (the body packing problem). In the classical case the body is a unit ball and the sphere packing problem is the most well-known. In the paper under review, a theorem is proved that provides an upper bound for the density of packings of congruent copies of a given convex body in the \(n\)-dimensional Euclidean space. The theorem is a generalization of a theorem by Cohn and Elkies that provides upper bounds for the maximum density of sphere packings. The authors show the application of their theorem by computing an upper bound for the maximum density of packings of regular pentagons in the plane. Semidefinite programming, sums of squares, and the harmonic analysis of the Euclidean motion group are used. For the entire collection see [Zbl 1411.52002].