Every $3$-dimensional convex body can be covered by $14$ smaller homothetic copies

Abstract

We show that every $3$-dimensional convex body can be covered by $14$ smaller homothetic copies. The previous result was $16$ copies established by Papadoperakis in 1999, while a conjecture by Hadwiger is $8$. We modify Papadoperakis's approach and develop a discretization technique that reduces the problem to verification of feasibility of a number of linear programs with rational coefficients, which is done with computer assistance using exact arithmetic.