Sparse stable configurations of hard discs in a box

Abstract

We construct stable configurations of n overlapping discs of radius r in a unit square, with r = O(1/n). By a result of Diaconis, Lebeau, and Michel, this result is best possible, up to a constant factor. A consequence is that the Metropolis algorithm, a well-studied Markov chain on the hardcore model, is not irreducible in this range of parameters.