Volume of 1/2 using hull of finite point set with diameter 1

(Update)

My current result is $82$ points:

consider this point set:

pts = {
{39331, -1787,  125739},
{-42020,    -78476, 96709},
{97017, -83209, 30835},
{-17033,    70737,  109597},
{-54599,    29504,  115688},
{-69547,    63866,  91701},
{-84862,    -62280, -80052},
{111630,    -49662, -51118},
{110858,    44843,  -58218},
{7570,  -94324, 91248},
{115828,    -36578, 50910},
{-103422,   33617,  73525},
{13903, 130088, -24865},
{-48488,    -30540, -119577},
{13546, 105208, 78574},
{92754, -90941, -22055},
{-87842,    -12726, -97961},
{17890, -95311, -90222},
{-32617,    127358, -17688},
{-83770,    -100939,    6478},
{-67513,    -103415,    -46172},
{-15435,    70574,  -111233},
{42948, 122369, 28253},
{82827, -31757, -98975},
{-8841, 14824,  130515},
{-31918,    -116156,    52485},
{-124638,   33189,  26548},
{46151, -58101, 108697},
{-107711,   76927,  -3256},
{8590,  -131155,    -3832},
{-2349, -45047, 123671},
{-67052,    113066, 17470},
{-49845,    -26471, 118738},
{45038, -56580, -110986},
{124167,    -45279, 903},
{60780, -115738,    12319},
{-109374,   -68092, -27125},
{-40207,    -124921,    2722},
{74952, 40665,  100449},
{88162, -58830, 78010},
{60461, 114907, -29946},
{110136,    -3355,  -73936},
{70896, 79060,  -79787},
{56554, -97875, 67358},
{72446, -84584, -71147},
{30586, 57713,  114256},
{-15936,    -120088,    -52161},
{-480,  -46761, -124154},
{-72908,    103917, -38653},
{-101424,   28721,  -80454},
{-45115,    103290, 68859},
{41881, -117921,    -41667},
{-74575,    -93889, 53049},
{108114,    53390,  54482},
{15266, -123265,    42434},
{40723, -3854,  -126221},
{90334, 94409,  22158},
{96396, 85431,  -32579},
{-63349,    75478,  -88497},
{122169,    52183,  -1811},
{108487,    5280,   74810},
{-88785,    -956,   96779},
{-7851, 14221,  -131625},
{64857, 88850,  73124},
{23713, 102177, -81511},
{129972,    1413,   -27143},
{-119337,   -14421, 52312},
{-88103,    -51438, 82718},
{-10887,    127563, 33645},
{33805, 54367,  -116181},
{-102814,   64657,  -52366},
{-126644,   25744,  -26822},
{-25275,    110536, -68979},
{-112785,   -59627, 30034},
{-129858,   -19908, 289},
{-36740,    -84005, -95750},
{78058, 29755,  -103069},
{-118373,   -22382, -53597},
{-55526,    28946,  -116699},
{-94065,    79056,  48080},
{80742, -15619, 102763},
{129505,    8123,   26059}
}

Then (Mathematica code)

Volume[ConvexHullMesh[pts]]

is $\approx 9.00744\times10^{15}$.

And Mathematica sketch:

ConvexHullMesh[pts]]

82 points convex hull

Another picture. If all vertices of a face are at distance one from another vertex, the face is colored blue.

82 point polyhedron

Since all point coordinates are integer, then one can write it directly (with arbitrary small computational errors):

$$Diameter = \sqrt{68\;719\;348\;253} \approx 262\;143.\;754\;938;$$ $$Volume = \dfrac{54\;044\;635\;971\;533\;362}{6} \approx 9\;007\;439\;328\;588\;893.\;666\;667.$$

If multiply all coordinates by $\dfrac{1}{2^{18}}$, then we'll get:

$$Diameter = \frac{\sqrt{68\;719\;348\;253}}{262\;144} \approx 0.999\;999\;065;$$ $$Volume = \dfrac{54\;044\;635\;971\;533\;362}{2^{54}\times 6} \approx 0.\;500\;013\;326.$$


Note: when add any point (with real coordinates) rather close to (the center of) any face, one will get the set of $83, 84, ...$ points with described property.


The current best known volume bound by 97 points is .4999609.

Currently, 98 points is the lower bound, with a current best volume of .5001309. Here's a simplified version of 98 points bounding a volume of 1/2.

pts = 
({{25161,15239,15738}, {-19559,26175,-6775}, {-4006,24157,-22572},   
{26243,20473,1977}, {3626,21357,25058}, {-16176,-20481,19867},   
{19600,24155,-12113}, {-20547,-23666,-10570}, {15495,-4185,28992},   
{-30124,-3246,14209}, {20518,-25644,-4873}, {-27314,-16747,8407},   
{24128,-1894,-22531}, {28918,-5278,15688}, {-9651,-30430,-8794},   
{32124,-8719,2667}, {7,-28881,15714}, {-27983,17284,5117},   
{31307,-5904,-8466}, {-29112,-13355,-7321}, {-11197,31241,2423},   
{-16493,-6895,-28142}, {-4835,-19067,26682}, {-27426,9201,16379},   
{-14201,11757,-27212}, {-13743,26726,14584}, {15279,29455,544},   
{23529,14005,-19238}, {3316,13250,-29746}, {32829,6364,-1267},   
{-17854,20459,-18567}, {23584,2651,22825}, {-31684,1388,-8352},   
{-27907,13905,-10730}, {-20649,-25299,3031}, {-7914,13803,28914},   
{-5685,31345,-9492}, {8966,26190,-18664}, {13899,26052,14660},   
{-19436,-5349,26308}, {12582,-26252,15883}, {9,3354,32858},   
{15269,12403,25837}, {-27834,-4988,-17084}, {-32368,2810,4363},   
{-18997,10095,25337}, {2653,-27021,-19141}, {14688,14913,-25846},   
{31456,5955,8605}, {22783,-19010,-14896}, {7504,-30451,-9382},   
{11921,-30012,5350}, {-6237,3312,-32379}, {5452,32220,3112},   
{4892,30443,-11704}, {20633,-13337,22304}, {13320,-19143,-23609},   
{-15014,-19141,-22978}, {1043,-33106,290}, {26794,-18693,4769},   
{-22610,4416,-23628}, {-11418,-29433,9363}, {-1517,-12798,-30638},   
{23056,-19104,13931}, {10706,-3817,-31400}, {7894,7519,30955},   
{5255,-14276,29698}, {-1278,31511,10073}, {-9977,-7220,30694},   
{-6921,22257,22989}, {29137,11121,-9805}, {-31068,-7994,1171},   
{-18843,17399,20269}, {-8660,-25176,-19425}, {12922,-18519,24195},   
{27836,-15187,-6057}, {-21640,22315,9878}, {-6851,-32147,3772},   
{-23691,-11945,18070}, {4488,2283,-32516}, {14245,5686,-28818},   
{-22214,-12745,-19863}, {22760,-11594,-20279}, {-12368,2766,29586},   
{5081,28759,15175}, {4609,-19768,-25959}, {-1159,-8679,31850},   
{13750,-25002,-14800}, {-24581,10464,-18734}, {4255,-22632,22566},   
{28756,3237,-13827}, {-9454,-14279,-28365}, {19317,-24852,6639},   
{12130,-11039,-28322}, {-6116,-4669,-31895}, {-30516,9944,-2126},   
{-24217,1636,21574}, {20094,24320,7885}} * 1/(2^20 +2))//N;

Max[EuclideanDistance[#[[1]], #[[2]]] & /@ Subsets[pts, {2}]]  
0.999997 

Volume[ConvexHullMesh[N[pts]]]  
0.500044

Here's a picture of a non-simplified version of the 98 points. All three vertices of a blue triangle are at distance 1 from a vertex on the other side.

98 points bounding a volume of 1/2

A similar picture for 36 points, which bounds a volume of 0.4699687. I believe this is optimal. Some believed-optimal solutions for 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, and 16 points are at my blog article and at the demo biggest little polyhedron, which has been updated.

biggest little polyhedron for 36 points.


A related question is to ask the volume of the largest $n$-vertex polyhedron which can be inscribed in a sphere of given size. It is important to recognize that this is a different problem, as a polyhedron of diameter $d$ is not generally inscribable in a sphere of diameter $d$. To illustrate, your 110-vertex polyhedron actually contains 70 points outside of the diameter-$1$ sphere centered at the origin (I have not verified whether some other diameter-$1$ sphere not centered at the origin might contain fewer than 70 vertices of your polyhedron in its exterior).

With that said, the question of the largest $n$-vertex polyhedron which can be inscribed in a sphere of a given size is asked here. Its solution is unknown for $n>8$, which hints that your problem might be hard to solve.

The accepted answer to that question links to a 1994 page entitled "Maximal Volume Spherical Codes", which appears to use Thomson problem solutions for their putatively optimal arrangements, as they list $n=121$ as the smallest $n$ which breaches the $1/2$ threshold.