On some non-rigid unit distance patterns

Abstract

A recent generalization of the Erd\H{o}s Unit Distance Problem, proposed by Palsson, Senger and Sheffer, asks for the maximum number of unit distance paths with a given number of vertices in the plane and in $3$-space. Studying a variant of this question, we prove sharp bounds on the number of unit distance paths and cycles on the sphere of radius $1/\sqrt{2}$. We also consider a similar problem about $3$-regular unit distance graphs in $\mathbb{R}^3$.