New Sphere-Packing Record Stems From an Unexpected Source
1 min read
Summary
In April, mathematician Boaz Klartag posted a result on the arXiv that improved the record for how tightly you can pack spheres in high-dimensional space.
His technique works in any dimension and is close to the best possible packing, some mathematicians say.
Klartag resuscitated a method that experts had abandoned decades earlier and that taps into long-running debates about how optimal packings should be ordered — or if they should be ordered at all.
The answer matters for potential applications to cryptography and communications, though Klartag’s result, while exciting, is still just a record to be broken.
“I think all realities are still on the table,” said one researcher.
