Updating the topology of the dynamic Voronoi diagram for spheres in Euclidean d-dimensional space Original Research Article

The problem of dynamic maintenance of a Voronoi diagram for a set of spheres moving independently in d-dimensional space is addressed in this paper. The maintenance of this Voronoi diagram for spheres moving along given trajectories, requires the calculation of topological events, that occur when d+2 spheres become tangent to a common sphere. The criterion for determination of the topological event in the Euclidean metric is derived as a solution of a system of non-linear algebraic equations. The criterion is given in the form of polynomial algebraic equations dependent on the coordinates and trajectories of the moving spheres. These equations are solved using numerical methods. Application of the method to study the structure of a system of polydisperse spheres in a three-dimensional Euclidean space is briefly discussed.