Topological relations between separating circles

Abstract

a b s t r a c tThe family of separating circles of two finite sets in the plane consists of all the circles that enclose the first set but exclude the second set. We prove some theoretical results on distances between families of circles, and properties about enclosure and intersection. Most of these results state that a property that involves one or more infinite families of circles can be verified by examining a finite subcollection of circles. As a result enclosure and intersection can be decided, and distances can be computed with simple geometric algorithms. Furthermore, the circles of the finite subcollections correspond to the vertices of a polytope in the parameter space of separating circles. A polytope of separating circle parameters is well-known computational geometry, but we prove some new properties and we introduce the concept of an elementary circular separation as a concise way to define such a polytope.