Salient and reentrant points of discrete sets (Q2573241)

Discrete sets, in this paper, are finite subsets \(E\) of points in the plane integral lattice. The border of \(E\) is the topological boundary of the union of the unit squares centered at points of \(E\). Border-salient points and border-reentrant points are special points in the border of \(E\), and inner-salient points and inner-reentrant points are special points in \(E\) itself. The authors prove that the border-salient points and border-reentrant points, when counted with multiplicity, together completely characterize a discrete set \(E\). By contrast, the inner-salient points and inner-reentrant points do not characterize \(E\) in general. It is also shown how the genus of \(E\) can be computed from the number of (border- or inner-) salient and reentrant points.