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arXiv · 2607.19764

Covering Planar Lattices with Interior-Disjoint Unit Disks

Abstract

We study an infinite variant of the coin-covering problem for periodic point sets in the plane. Given a point set of spacing $d$, we ask whether all of its points can be covered by pairwise non-overlapping unit disks. We consider the triangular lattice, the square lattice, and the honeycomb point set, and construct periodic motif patterns that certify several intervals of coverable spacings. For the triangular lattice, our constructions include single-family patterns with vertex, face, and off-lattice realizing centers, as well as multi-family patterns. For the honeycomb point set, additional native motifs fill gaps left by the triangular-lattice constructions. For the square lattice, we revisit the constructions of Alm et al., identify an unintended overlap in one motif realization, and give new patterns that recover part of the affected interval and establish an additional coverability interval.

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Nattawut Phetmak, Grittin Nuntasombat, Jittat Fakcharoenphol. 2026-07-22. Covering Planar Lattices with Interior-Disjoint Unit Disks. https://arxiv.org/abs/2607.19764

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