1 research outputs found
Point configurations that are asymmetric yet balanced
A configuration of particles confined to a sphere is balanced if it is in
equilibrium under all force laws (that act between pairs of points with
strength given by a fixed function of distance). It is straightforward to show
that every sufficiently symmetrical configuration is balanced, but the converse
is far from obvious. In 1957 Leech completely classified the balanced
configurations in R^3, and his classification is equivalent to the converse for
R^3. In this paper we disprove the converse in high dimensions. We construct
several counterexamples, including one with trivial symmetry group.Comment: 10 page