Packing numbers of rational ruled 4-manifolds

Abstract

We completely solve the symplectic packing problem with equally sized balls for any rational, ruled, symplectic 4-manifolds. We give explicit formulae for the packing numbers, the generalized Gromov widths, the stability numbers, and the corresponding obstructing exceptional classes. As a corollary, we give explicit values for when an ellipsoid of type $E(a, b)$, with $\frac{b}{a} \in \N$, embeds in a polydisc $P(s,t)$. Under this integrality assumption, we also give an alternative proof of a recent result of M. Hutchings showing that the ECH capacities give sharp inequalities for embedding ellipsoids into polydisks.