Sphere packing

In geometry, a sphere packing is an arrangement of non-overlapping spheres within a containing space. The spheres considered are usually all of identical size, and the space is usually three-dimensional Euclidean space. However, sphere packing problems can be generalised to consider unequal spheres, n-dimensional Euclidean space (where the problem becomes circle packing in two dimensions, or hypersphere packing in higher dimensions) or to non-Euclidean spaces such as hyperbolic space.

A typical sphere packing problem is to find an arrangement in which the spheres fill as large a proportion of the space as possible. The proportion of space filled by the spheres is called the density of the arrangement. As the local density of a packing in an infinite space can vary depending on the volume over which it is measured, the problem is usually to maximise the average or asymptotic density, measured over a large enough volume.

For equal spheres in three dimensions the densest packing uses approximately 74% of the volume. A random packing of equal spheres generally has a density around 64%.

A lattice arrangement (commonly called a regular arrangement) is one in which the centers of the spheres form a very symmetric pattern which only needs n vectors to be uniquely defined (in n-dimensional Euclidean space). Lattice arrangements are periodic. Arrangements in which the spheres do not form a lattice (often referred to as irregular) can still be periodic, but also aperiodic (properly speaking non-periodic) or random. Lattice arrangements are easier to handle than irregular ones—their high degree of symmetry makes it easier to classify them and to measure their densities.

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