Random packings and liquid crystals

Let T be a subset of R^d, such as a ball, a cube or a cylinder, and consider all possibilities for packing translates of T, perhaps with its rotations, in some bounded domain in R^d. How does a typical packing of this sort look like? One mathematical formalization of this question is to fix the density of the packing and sample uniformly among all possible packings with this density. Discrete versions of the question may be formulated as choosing a random independent set in a suitable lattice graph.

The question arises naturally in the sciences, where T may be thought of as a molecule and its packing is related to the spatial arrangement of molecules of a material under given conditions. In some cases, the material forms a liquid crystal - states of matter which are, in a sense, between liquids and crystals. 

I will review ideas from this field, mentioning some of the predictions and the mathematical progress. Time permitting, I will elaborate on a recent result, joint with Daniel Hadas, on the structure of high-density packings of 2x2 squares with centers on the square lattice.

The talk is meant to be accessible to a general mathematical audience.