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

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Let a balanced discrete subset C⊂Rn\mathcal{C}\subset\mathbb{R}^n be one for which, for every x∈Cx\in\mathcal{C} and every distance dd, the set

{y∈C:∣x−y∣=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 x∈Cx\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.

References

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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