Buffon Discrepancy and the Steinhaus Longimeter

Abstract

Let $\Omega \subset \mathbb{R}^2$ be a convex set. We study the problem of distributing a one-dimensional set $S$ with total length $L$ so that for any line $\ell$ in $\mathbb{R}^2$ the number of intersections $\#(\ell \cap S)$ is proportional to the length $\mathcal{H}^1(\ell \cap \Omega)$ as much as possible; we use the term Buffon discrepancy for the largest error. A construction of Steinhaus can be generalized to prove the existence of sets with Buffon discrepancy $\lesssim L^{1/3}$. We also show that the unit disk $\mathbb{D}$ admits a set with uniformly bounded Buffon discrepancy as $L \rightarrow \infty$.