No label defined (Q4444017)

For a convex body \(C\) in Euclidean space \(E^n\) and for points \(p,q\in E^n\), the \(C\)-distance of \(p\) and \(q\) is defined as the Euclidean distance of \(p\) and \(q\), divided by half the length of a longest chord of \(C\) parallel to \(p- q\). It is proved that the following conditions ar equivalent for every \(t\in (0,\infty)\): (i) there exist \(k\) mutually nonoverlapping homothetic copies of \(C\) with homothety ratio \(t\) touching \(C\), (ii) there exist \(k\) points in the boundary of \({1\over 1+t} C+{t\over 1+t}(-C)\) with pairwise \(C\)-distances at least \({2t\over 1+t}\). The rest of the paper is concerned with specific consequences of this result in the planar case and with an analogous result in \(E^n\) concerning homothetic copies of \(C\) packed in \(C\).