Helly-type results on support lines for disjoint families of unit disks (Q2292905)
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| Language | Label | Description | Also known as |
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| English | Helly-type results on support lines for disjoint families of unit disks |
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Helly-type results on support lines for disjoint families of unit disks (English)
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6 February 2020
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The paper contains two main Helly-type results: 1. If a family of at least \(4\) unit disks in the plane has the property that every \(4\)-element subfamily has a supporting line, then all members in the family have a supporting line. 2. If a family of at least \(6\) unit disks in the plane has the property that every \(3\)-element subfamily has a supporting line, then all members in the family have a supporting line. The proof is given essentially via a case analysis considering possible configurations of unit disks with 2 or more supporting lines. At a few places I am not so sure whether the case analysis is actually complete. For example, the proof of Lemma 2, pages 144 and 145 discusses disks touching the unbounded region \(P\) formed by lines \(m_1\), \(m_2\) and \(m_3\). But there is also a bounded region formed by the same lines where the disk could be in principle inscribed. Also, the proof of the same lemma is accompanied by suggestive pictures for the case when the distance between the first and the second disk is fixed. However, it is not so clear to me that all the arguments remain the same if the distance is much larger or much smaller (for example when considering whether there is a unit disk touching region \(P'\)). On the other hand, the overall proof is very probably essentially correct. I just recommend to check the details carefully if using the result.
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convex set
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unit disk
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Helly-type theorem
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supporting line
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