On a planar six-neighbor theorem and its application (Q2694257)

In this interesting paper the authors study properties of planar normal tilings. Let us recall that a planar tiling \(\mathcal{T}\) of \(\mathbb{R}^{2}\) refers to a collection of closed subsets contained in \(\mathbb{R}^{2}\) such that (T1) \(\bigcup_{K \in \mathcal{T}} \, K = \mathbb{R}^{2};\) (T2) \(\mathrm{int}(K_{i}) \cap\mathrm{int}(K_{j}) = \emptyset\) for all \(K_{i} \neq K_{j} \in \mathcal{T}\). The elements of \(\mathcal{T}\) are called the tiles. The authors assumes additionally that (T3) \(K = \overline{\mathrm{int}(K)}\) for all \(k \in \mathcal{T}\), and (T4) \(\mathrm{int}(K)\) is connected for all \(K \in \mathcal{T}\). The set of neighbors in \(\mathcal{T}\) for \(K \in \mathcal{T}\) is denoted as \(N(K,\mathcal{T})\) and it is defined as \[ N(K,\mathcal{T}):= \{\tilde{K} \in \mathcal{T} \setminus \{K\} \, : \, K \cap \tilde{K} \neq \emptyset\}. \] The number of neighbors refers to the set cardinality \(|N(K,\mathcal{T})|\). To describe the auxiliary subfamilies of planar tilings, the following properties must be introduced. (N1) There exist \(r_{2}\geq r_{1} > 0\) such that any tile \(K \in \mathcal{T}\) contains a disk of radius \(r_{1}\) and belongs to a disk of radius \(r_{2}\). (N2) Each tile \(K \in \mathcal{T}\) is homeomorphic to the closed unit disk. (N3) The shared boundary \(K_{i} \cap K_{j}\) is connected (or empty) for \(K_{i},K_{j} \in \mathcal{T}\). Let us denote by \(\mathcal{N}_{2}\) the family of planar tilings \(\mathcal{T}\) satisfying (N1), commonly known as normal tilings. This study focuses on a sub-family \(\mathcal{N}_{2}^{\mathcal{J}} \subseteq \mathcal{N}_{2}\) which is defined as \[ \mathcal{N}_{2}^{\mathcal{J}} = \{ \mathcal{T} \in \mathcal{N}_{2} \, : \, \partial(K) \text{ is a finite union of Jordan arcs } \forall \, K \in \mathcal{T}\}, \] where \(\partial(K)\) denotes the boundary of \(K\), while a Jordan arc is a homeomorphic image of the closed unit interval. The main result of the paper under review can be formulated as follows. Main Theorem. \[ \mathrm{inf}_{\mathcal{T} \in \mathcal{N}_{2}^{\mathcal{J}}} \sup_{K \in \mathcal{T}} |N(K, \mathcal{T})|=6. \]