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Falconer Distance Conjecture


The Falconer distance conjecture asserts that a compact set E subset= R^d with Hausdorff dimension greater than d/2 has a distance set Delta(E)={||x-y||:x,y in E} of positive Lebesgue measure, where d>=2 and ||·|| is the Euclidean norm (Iosevich and Yavicoli 2026).

Iosevich and Yavicoli (2026) proved that some absolute constant eta_0>0 satisfies dim_HDelta(E)>=4/5+eta_0 for every analytic set E subset= R^2 with dim_HE>1. This is a Hausdorff dimension bound rather than a proof of the conjecture.

OpenAI (2026) announced a proof in every integer dimension d>=2 for compact sets E subset= R^d with dim_HE>d/2. The claimed conclusion is positive Lebesgue measure of the Euclidean distance set, rather than only a lower Hausdorff dimension bound. The strict threshold is retained and no endpoint or pinned-distance conclusion is asserted here.

Cheng et al. (2026) report a quantitative planar result. Let E subset R^2 be compact, with generalized diameter D>0, supporting a probability measure mu such that

 mu(B(x,r))<=A(r/D)^(1+epsilon)
(1)

for every x in R^2 and 0<r<=D, where A>=1, 0<epsilon<1, and B(x,r) is an open disk. They claim

 |Delta(E)|>=c_(epsilon,p)DA^(-p)
(2)

for every fixed p>1/epsilon, with c_(epsilon,p)>0 depending only on epsilon,p and |Delta(E)| denoting Lebesgue measure. In particular, their result would give positive Lebesgue measure whenever dim_HE>1. It does not assert the endpoint p=1/epsilon, a pinned-distance conclusion, or sharp constants. The authors develop the OpenAI multiscale approach (Cheng et al. 2026).

Burstein et al. (2026) report a strengthening of the positive-measure conclusion. For compact E subset= R^d with d>=2 and dim_HE>d/2, they construct a probability measure nu=fdt supported on Delta(E) and a number delta>0 such that f in B_(1,infty)^delta(R), a Besov space, and

 |nu^^(r)|<=C(1+|r|)^(-delta),
(3)

where C>0 is a constant, r in R, and nu^^(r) is the Fourier transform of nu. The probability density function also belongs to L^p(R) for some p>1. These assertions concern a selected weighted distance measure, not every distance measure or a fixed pinned distance set.


See also

Distance Set, Hausdorff Dimension, Lebesgue Measure

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References

Burstein, W.; Iosevich, A.; and Yavicoli, A. "Falconer's Conjecture Through Descent and Chaining." 11 Nov 2026. https://arxiv.org/abs/2611.14867v1.Cheng, G.; Fang, X.; Li, M.; Qu, H.; and Xiao, C. "A Quantitative Form of the Planar Falconer Distance Theorem." 15 Oct 2026. https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.22222.Iosevich, A. and Yavicoli, A. "Improved Dimension Bounds for Falconer's Distance Problem in the Plane." 4 Oct 2026. https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.05500.OpenAI. "The Falconer Distance Conjecture in All Dimensions." Sep. 23, 2026. https://github.com/openai/math/blob/adc7f1241b42e322a6451854ab7e4b4c146bf78a/preprints/The-Falconer-distance-conjecture-in-all-dimensions-September-23-2026/paper.pdf.

Cite this as:

Weisstein, Eric W. "Falconer Distance Conjecture." From MathWorld--A Wolfram Resource. https://mathworld.wolfram.com/FalconerDistanceConjecture.html

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