Extremal great-circle distribution conjecture for six, nine, and fifteen circles

Let rgc(n,S2)r_{\rm gc}(n,\mathbb{S}^2) be the largest radius such that every cell in a tiling of the unit sphere S2\mathbb{S}^2 induced by nn great circles contains a spherical cap of that radius. For n=6,9,15n=6,9,15, let ρn\rho_n denote the inradius of the corresponding congruent Coxeter spherical triangle.

Extremal great-circle distribution conjecture.

rgc(6,S2)=ρ6,rgc(9,S2)=ρ9,rgc(15,S2)=ρ15.r_{\rm gc}(6,\mathbb{S}^2)=\rho_6,\qquad r_{\rm gc}(9,\mathbb{S}^2)=\rho_9,\qquad r_{\rm gc}(15,\mathbb{S}^2)=\rho_{15}.

The displayed Coxeter arrangements establish the corresponding lower bounds; the conjecture asserts their optimality. The source does not state a resolution, so the conjecture remains open.

Sources & referencesView supporting material

Primary source

Károly Bezdek and Zsolt Lángi, “From the separable Tammes problem to extremal distributions of great circles in the unit sphere”, arXiv:2201.11234 (2022).

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