Sphere packing bounds via rescaling

Abstract

We study the relationship between local and global density for sphere packings, and in particular the convergence of packing densities in large, compact regions to the Euclidean limit. We axiomatize key properties of sphere packing bounds by the concept of a packing bound function, and we study the special case of sandwich functions, which give a framework for inequalities given by the Lov\'asz sandwich theorem. We show that every packing bound function tends to a Euclidean limit on rectifiable sets, generalizing the work of Borodachov, Hardin, and Saff. Linear and semidefinite programming bounds yield packing bound functions, and we develop a Lasserre hierarchy that converges to the optimal sphere packing density.