Discoveries / geometry-topology

Kusner's Conjecture on Equilateral Sets in $\ell_p^n$

Kusner conjectured in 1983 that the maximum number of points in $\mathbb{R}^n$ that are pairwise at $\ell_p$-distance one is exactly $n+1$ for every $2 < p < \infty$, as in the Euclidean case. False: an explicit configuration of $n+2$ equilateral points exists for some exponent, placing the infimum of exponents at which the conjecture fails in $[4,5)$. The configuration is the unique solution of an explicit polynomial system with rational coefficients in a rational box, established in exact arithmetic.