Discharging arguments demonstrate a connection between local structure and
global averages. This makes it an effective tool for proving lower bounds on
the density of special sets in infinite grids. However, the minimum density of
an identifying code in the hexagonal grid remains open, with an upper bound of
73ββ0.428571 and a lower bound of 125ββ0.416666. We present a new, experimental framework for producing discharging
arguments using an algorithm. This algorithm replaces the lengthy case analysis
of human-written discharging arguments with a linear program that produces the
best possible lower bound using the specified set of discharging rules. We use
this framework to present a lower bound of 5523ββ0.418181 on
the density of an identifying code in the hexagonal grid, and also find several
sharp lower bounds for variations on identifying codes in the hexagonal,
square, and triangular grids.Comment: This is an extended abstract, with 10 pages, 2 appendices, 5 tables,
and 2 figure