Greedy energy minimization can count in binary: point charges and the van der Corput sequence (Q2662175)

For a sequence \(X = (x_n)_{n \ge 0}\) of points in \([0,1)\), its \textit{discrepancy} associates to any \(N \ge 1\) the quantity \[ D_N(X) = \sup_{0 \le \alpha < \beta < 1}\left|\frac{1}{N}\sharp\{1 \le n \le N \colon \alpha \le x_n < \beta\}-(\beta - \alpha)\right|. \] \textit{W. M. Schmidt} [Acta Arith. 21, 45--50 (1972; Zbl 0244.10035)] showed that there is no sequence \(X\) so that one can have \(D_N(X) = o(N^{-1}\log N)\). \textit{J. G. van der Corput} [Proc. Akad. Wet. Amsterdam 38, 1058--1066 (1935; Zbl 0013.05703)] had previously constructed a sequence, \(S_2\) satisfying \(D_N(S_2) \le c N^{-1} \log N\) for some \(c > 0\), where \(x_k\) is explicitly given in terms of the binary expansion of \(k\).\\ The general theme of the paper is the inductive construction of sequences in \([0, 1)\) satisfying \[x_N = \operatorname{arg min}_{x \in (0,1)} \sum_{n=0}^{N-1} f(|x-x_n)|), \tag{1}\] where \( f \colon [0, 1] \rightarrow \mathbb{R}\) satisfies \[ f(t) = f(1-t) \; , \; f \text{ is twice differentiable on } (0, 1) \; \text{ and } f'' \text{ is positive on } (0,1). \] In Theorem 5.5, the author proves that for any \(N\), if \(\{x_0, x_1, \ldots, x_{N-1}\}\) consists of the \(N\) first elements of the van der Corput sequence \(S_2\), then the element of \(S_2\) with index \(N+1\) satisfies (1).\\ In his main result, Theorem 2.1, the author proves that if a sequence \(X=(x_n)_{n \ge 0}\) with \(x_0=0\) satisfies the inductive property (1), then \begin{itemize} \item[1.] all its terms belong to \textit{permuted} van der Corput sequences, \item[2.] for all \(N\), one has \(D_N(X) = D_N(S_2)\). \end{itemize} In particular, this leads to the proof a special case of a conjecture by \textit{S. Steinerberger} [Monatsh. Math. 191, No. 3, 639--655 (2020; Zbl 1471.11222)].\\ A nice paper at the border of dynamical systems, combinatorics, number theory and mathematical physics with interesting results and questions.