No label defined (Q4546170)

In the following, ``plane'' always means ``Euclidean plane''. A packing (covering) of discs in the plane is said to be solid if no finite number of its members can be rearranged so as to form, together with the rest of the members, a packing (covering) not congruent to the original one. According to a conjecture of L. Fejes Tóth, the incircles (circumcircles) of the faces of a more than trihedral uniform tiling of the plane never form a solid packing (covering). This is proved here via a theorem providing a sufficient condition for non-solidity which yields the following corrollary: ``Any solid packing of circles in the plane with a finite number of different radii has a density \(\geq \pi /\sqrt{12}\). Any solid covering of the plane by circles with a finite number of different radii has a density \(\leq 2\pi /\sqrt{27}\).'' This corrollary also implies that the packings and coverings corresponding to the twenty 2-uniform edge-to-edge tilings by regular polygons are all non-solid, with the only exception of the packing formed by the incircles of the tiling with vertices of types \((3,2,3,12)\) and \((3,12^{2})\), where the question is left open.