Favourite distances in 3-space

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Abstract: Let

S

be a set of

n

points in Euclidean

3

-space. Assign to each

x i n S

a distance

r (x) > 0

, and let

e_{r} (x, S)

denote the number of points in

S

at distance

r (x)

from

x

. Avis, ErdH{o}s and Pach (1988) introduced the extremal quantity

f_{3} (n) = m a x s u m_{x i n S} e_{r} (x, S)

, where the maximum is taken over all

n

-point subsets

S

of 3-space and all assignments

r c o l o n S o (0, i n f t y)

of distances. We show that if the pair

(S, r)

maximises

f_{3} (n)

and

n

is sufficiently large, then, except for at most

2

points,

S

is contained in a circle

m a t h c a l C

and the axis of symmetry

m a t h c a l L

of

m a t h c a l C

, and

r (x)

equals the distance from

x

to

C

for each

x i n S c a p m a t h c a l L

. This, together with a new construction, implies that

f_{3} (n) = n^{2} / 4 + 5 n / 2 + O (1)

.

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