The high-dimensional balanced non-group-balanced configuration conjecture

Let a balanced discrete subset CRn\mathcal{C}\subset\mathbb{R}^n be one for which, for every xCx\in\mathcal{C} and every distance dd, the set

{yC:xy=d}\{y\in\mathcal{C}:|x-y|=d\}

either is empty or has centroid xx. Let Aut(C)\operatorname{Aut}(\mathcal{C}) be the rigid motions preserving C\mathcal{C}. The set is group-balanced if, for every xCx\in\mathcal{C}, its stabilizer in Aut(C)\operatorname{Aut}(\mathcal{C}) fixes only xx.

High-dimensional balanced non-group-balanced configuration conjecture. If nn is sufficiently large, then there exists a discrete subset of Rn\mathbb{R}^n that is balanced but not group-balanced.

This conjecture predicts that the planar phenomenon does not persist in all dimensions: sufficiently high-dimensional Euclidean space should contain balanced configurations with additional stabilizer-fixed points. The source gives no resolution or specified threshold for “sufficiently large,” so the conjecture remains open.

Sources & referencesView supporting material

Primary source

Henry Cohn, Noam D. Elkies, Abhinav Kumar and Achill Schuermann, “Point configurations that are asymmetric yet balanced”, arXiv:0812.2579 (2012).

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