
We introduce and physically motivate the following problem in geometric combinatorics, originally inspired by analysing Bell inequalities. A grasshopper lands at a random point on a planar lawn of area 1. It then jumps once, a fixed distanced, in a random direction. What shape should the lawn be to maximize the chance that the grasshopper remains on the lawn after jumping? We show that, perhaps surprisingly, a disc-shaped lawn is not optimal for anyd>0. We investigate further by introducing a spin model whose ground state corresponds to the solution of a discrete version of the grasshopper problem. Simulated annealing and parallel tempering searches are consistent with the hypothesis that, ford<π−1/2, the optimal lawn resembles a cogwheel withncogs, where the integernis close toπ(arcsin(πd/2))−1. We find transitions to other shapes ford≳π−1/2.
Quantum Physics, Statistical Mechanics (cond-mat.stat-mech), spin models, FOS: Physical sciences, Statistical mechanics of plasmas, statistical physics, Mathematical Physics (math-ph), geometric combinatorics, FOS: Mathematics, Mathematics - Combinatorics, Bell inequalities, Geometric probability and stochastic geometry, Combinatorics (math.CO), Quantum Physics (quant-ph), Condensed Matter - Statistical Mechanics, Mathematical Physics
Quantum Physics, Statistical Mechanics (cond-mat.stat-mech), spin models, FOS: Physical sciences, Statistical mechanics of plasmas, statistical physics, Mathematical Physics (math-ph), geometric combinatorics, FOS: Mathematics, Mathematics - Combinatorics, Bell inequalities, Geometric probability and stochastic geometry, Combinatorics (math.CO), Quantum Physics (quant-ph), Condensed Matter - Statistical Mechanics, Mathematical Physics
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