[seqfan] Re: Configurations of n repelling points on the sphere that are in "equilibrium"

[hoppe]

Felix,

As others have mentioned, counting the exact number of charges is a hard
problem! Awhile back, I tried to find (local) minimal configurations, which
is an approximation to your question.

https://towardsdatascience.com/stupid-tensorflow-tricks-3a837194b7a0

Some results are known exactly, others have lower bounds. See

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomson_problem#Configurations_of_smallest_known_energy

For more. All the best,
Travis Hoppe