MINIMUM-ENERGY POINT-CHARGE CONFIGURATIONS ON A CIRCULAR DISK

Stochastic global optimization methods are used together with problem- specific heuristics to find configurations of n equal point charges on a circular disk such that the potential energy is minimized. Previous such optimal or conjecturally optimal configurations have been publis hed only for n less than or equal to 23 and n = 29, 30, 50. Earlier re sults are examined and the best currently known configurations-most of them new-for n less than or equal to 80 are presented.