Optimal packing of spheres in $\mathbb R^d$ and extremal effective conductivity

Abstract

Optimal packing of spheres in $\mathbb R^d$ is studied by optimization of the energy $E$ (effective conductivity) of composites with ideally conducting spherical inclusions. It is demonstrated that the minimum of $E$ over locations of spheres is attained at the optimal packing. The energy is estimated in the framework of structural approximations. This method yields upper bounds and sometimes exact values for the maximal concentrations of spheres in $\mathbb R^d$. A constructive algorithm for the optimal locations of spheres associated to the classes of the Delaunay graphs is constructed.