In the first part of the talk, we present how semidefinite programming methods can provide upper bounds for various geometric packing problems, such as kissing numbers, spherical codes, or packings of spheres into a larger sphere. When these bounds are sharp, they give additional information on optimal configurations, that may lead to prove the uniqueness of such packings. For example, we show that the lattice E8 is the unique solution for the kissing number problem on the hemisphere in dimension 8.

However, semidefinite programming solvers provide approximate solutions, and some additional work is required to turn them into an exact solution, giving a certificate that the bound is sharp. In the second part of the talk, we explain how, via our rounding procedure, we can obtain an exact rational solution of semidefinite program from an approximate solution in floating point given by the solver.

The average kissing number of $R^n$ is the supremum of the average degrees of contact graphs of packings of finitely many balls (of any radii) in $R^n$. In this talk I will provide an upper bound for the average kissing number based on semidefinite programming that improves previous bounds in dimensions 3, ..., 9. A very simple upper bound for the average kissing number is twice the kissing number; in dimensions 6, ..., 9 our new bound is the first to improve on this simple upper bound.

Consider the Euclidean space R^n with an even dimension n. Equipped with a nondegenerate and alternating (sometimes called skew-symmetric) bilinear form this is referred to as a symplectic space. Symplectic spaces appear for instance if we express classical mechanics in a general way. The interest in the study of symplectic spaces arose in the 1980s due to the celebrated non-squeezing theorem by Gromov. In particular, Gromov's result required the existence of symplectic invariants, so called symplectic capacities. A symplectic capacity maps a nonnegative number to each subset of R^n while fulfilling certain properties. By now, several families of such invariants have been found. However, they are notoriously hard to compute. In my talk I will introduce a specific symplectic capacity, i.e. the Ekeland-Hofer-Zehnder (EHZ) capacity, restricted to polytopes. More precisely, I will state a result by Abbondandolo and Majer which formulates the EHZ capacity as an optimization problem. Afterwards, I will discuss this optimization problem in more detail as well as strategies to solve it.

We classify all sets of nonzero vectors in $R^3$ such that the angle formed by each pair is a rational multiple of $\pi$. The special case of four-element subsets lets us classify all tetrahedra whose dihedral angles are multiples of $\pi$, solving a 1976 problem of Conway and Jones: there are $2$ one-parameter families and $59$ sporadic tetrahedra, all but three of which are related to either the icosidodecahedron or the $B_3$ root lattice. The proof requires the solution in roots of unity of a $W(D_6)$-symmetric polynomial equation with $105$ monomials (the previous record was only $12$ monomials).

The Mastodon theorem (PD., D. Legg, D. Townsend, 2002), establishes that the regular bi-pyramid (North and South poles, and an equilateral triangle on the Equator) is the unique up to rotation five-point configuration on the sphere that maximizes the product of all mutual (Euclidean) distances.

In a joint work with Oleg Musin we generalize the Mastodon Theorem to $n+2$ points on $\mathbb{S}^{n-1}$, namely we characterize all stationary configurations, and show that all local minima occur when a configuration splits in two orthogonal simplexes of $k$ and $\ell$ vertices, $k+\ell=n+2$, with global minimum attained when $k=\ell$ or $k=\ell+1$ depending on the parity of $n$.

We consider the majorization (Karamata) inequality and minimums of the majorization (M-sets) for f-energy potentials of m-point configurations in a sphere. In particular, we discuss the optimality of regular simplexes, describe M-sets with a small number of points, define and discuss spherical f-designs.

A closed polygonal curve is called integral if it is composed of unit segments. Kenyon's problem asks whether for every integral curve, there is a dome over this curve, i.e. whether the curve is a boundary of a polyhedral surface whose faces are equilateral triangles with unit edge lengths. In this talk, we will give a necessary algebraic condition when the curve is a quadrilateral, thus giving a negative solution to Kenyon's problem in full generality. We will then explain why domes exist over a dense set of integral curves and give an explicit construction of domes over all regular polygons. Finally, we will formulate several open questions related to the initial problem of Kenyon.