Inequalities between lattice packing and covering densities of centrally symmetric plane convex bodies (Q5944935)

The inequalities are these: for every cspc (= centrally symmetric plane convex) body \(K\) \[ \theta_L(K) - 1 \geq 1-\delta_L(K),\quad \theta_L(K)-1\leq 1.25\sqrt{1-\delta_L(K)}, \] where \(\theta_L(K)\) and \(\delta_L(K)\) are the densities of the thinnest covering and densest packing of the plane with lattice translates of \(K\). Furthermore in these inequalities the order of magnitude cannot be improved: for every \(\varepsilon>0\) there exist cspc bodies \(K_\varepsilon\) and \(M_\varepsilon\) such that \[ \theta_L(K_\varepsilon)-1<(1+\varepsilon)(1-\delta_L(K_\varepsilon)) \quad \text{and} \quad \theta_L(M_\varepsilon)-1>(1-\varepsilon)\sqrt{1-\delta_L(M_\varepsilon)}. \] The proofs depend on the author's exact description of the set of all points \((x,y)\) with the property that there exists \(K \in P_8\) (the family of all cspc octagons) such that \( \theta_L(K)=x, \delta_L(K)=y\). The paper begins with a brief description of the concepts involved and known results with adequate references. It ends with a half dozen open problems.