The sphere packing problem (Q5905664)

The paper sketches a solution of the sphere packing problem in 3-space, i.e., that any packing of congruent spheres has a density exceeding that of the face-centred-cubic lattice packing, namely \(\pi/\sqrt{18}\). The demonstrations of the author are based on Delaunay triangulations. Thus, his geometric approach is roughly dual to that of \textit{L. Fejes Tóth} [cf. `Reguläre Figuren', Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest (1965; Zbl 0134.159) and `Lagerungen in der Ebene, auf der Kugel und im Raum', Springer, Berlin (1972; Zbl 0229.52009)], which is based on Voronoi cells. (A comparison of both methods is given in the introduction of the paper.) The results of the present article provide a sketch rather than a complete rigorous mathematical proof in a carefully controlled way. However, one may hope that the complicated numerical demonstrations of the author will give the needed encouragement to mathematicians to replace the corresponding steps by rigorous proofs. (E. g., the optimization problems used in this paper are of the same nature and complexity as the problem of minimizing the volume of a Voronoi cell).