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  • Precise Statement of The Results 3. Residue Classes and Quadratic Forms 4. Quadratic Obstructions 5. Quartic Obstructions 6. Computations References

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    The document presents research disproving the local-global conjecture for Apollonian circle packings. The conjecture states that for a primitive integral packing, every sufficiently large integer in the correct residue class modulo 24 will appear as a curvature. The researchers prove this conjecture is false by showing certain quadratic and quartic families are missed as curvatures for many packings. This new obstruction is a property of the thin Apollonian group and arises from quadratic and quartic reciprocity, resembling a Brauer-Manin obstruction. Based on computations, the researchers formulate a new conjecture to replace the disproven local-global conjecture.

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    2307.02749

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    The document presents research disproving the local-global conjecture for Apollonian circle packings. The conjecture states that for a primitive integral packing, every sufficiently large integer in the correct residue class modulo 24 will appear as a curvature. The researchers prove this conjecture is false by showing certain quadratic and quartic families are missed as curvatures for many packings. This new obstruction is a property of the thin Apollonian group and arises from quadratic and quartic reciprocity, resembling a Brauer-Manin obstruction. Based on computations, the researchers formulate a new conjecture to replace the disproven local-global conjecture.

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    3 views28 pages

    Precise Statement of The Results 3. Residue Classes and Quadratic Forms 4. Quadratic Obstructions 5. Quartic Obstructions 6. Computations References

    Uploaded by

    walter hu
    The document presents research disproving the local-global conjecture for Apollonian circle packings. The conjecture states that for a primitive integral packing, every sufficiently large integer in the correct residue class modulo 24 will appear as a curvature. The researchers prove this conjecture is false by showing certain quadratic and quartic families are missed as curvatures for many packings. This new obstruction is a property of the thin Apollonian group and arises from quadratic and quartic reciprocity, resembling a Brauer-Manin obstruction. Based on computations, the researchers formulate a new conjecture to replace the disproven local-global conjecture.

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    of 28

    THE LOCAL-GLOBAL CONJECTURE FOR APOLLONIAN CIRCLE PACKINGS IS

    FALSE

    SUMMER HAAG, CLYDE KERTZER, JAMES RICKARDS, AND KATHERINE E. STANGE

    Abstract. In a primitive integral Apollonian circle packing, the curvatures that appear must fall into one of
    six or eight residue classes modulo 24. The local-global conjecture states that every sufficiently large integer
    in one of these residue classes will appear as a curvature in the packing. We prove that this conjecture is false
    arXiv:2307.02749v2 [math.NT] 21 Jul 2023

    for many packings, by proving that certain quadratic and quartic families are missed. The new obstructions
    are a property of the thin Apollonian group (and not its Zariski closure), and are a result of quadratic
    and quartic reciprocity, reminiscent of a Brauer-Manin obstruction. Based on computational evidence, we
    formulate a new conjecture.

    Contents

    1. Introduction 1
    2. Precise statement of the results 6
    3. Residue classes and quadratic forms 8
    4. Quadratic obstructions 12
    5. Quartic obstructions 17
    6. Computations 23
    References 27

    1. Introduction

    Methods for understanding arithmetic properties of thin groups have had a proving ground in the study
    of Apollonian circle packings (Figure 1), as well as problems such as Zaremba’s conjecture for continued
    fractions (see [Kon13]). The central conjecture is that “thin orbits” in Z, such as orbits of a thin group
    like the Apollonian group (defined below), satisfy a local-global property, namely that they are subject to
    certain congruence restrictions (local), but otherwise should admit all sufficiently large integers (global).
    In the Apollonian case, the local-global conjecture specifying the exact congruence obstructions is due to
    Graham-Lagarias-Mallows-Wilks-Yan [GLM+ 03] and Fuchs-Sanden [FS11]. Significant progress in finding
    lower bounds for the number of integers appearing as curvatures has relied a variety of techniques, including
    analytic methods, quadratic forms, and the spectral theory of graphs. This has culminated in the theorem of
    Bourgain and Kontorovich that amongst the admissible curvatures for an Apollonian circle packing (those

    Date: August 11, 2023.


    2020 Mathematics Subject Classification. Primary: 52C26, 11D99, 11-04; Secondary: 20H10, 11E12, 11A15, 11B99.
    Key words and phrases. Apollonian circle packings, quadratic reciprocity, quartic reciprocity, local-global conjecture, thin
    groups.
    Rickards and Stange are currently supported by NSF-CAREER CNS-1652238 (PI Katherine E. Stange).
    1
    values not obstructed by congruence conditions), a set of density one does appear [BK14]. In this paper, we
    demonstrate that, for infinitely many (and perhaps most, in a suitable sense) Apollonian circle packings, the
    local-global conjecture is nevertheless false.
    The new obstruction rules out certain power families such as n2 as curvatures in certain packings. It
    has its source in quadratic and quartic reciprocity, making it reminiscent of a Brauer-Manin obstruction.
    However, it is strictly a phenomenon of the thin group; its Zariski closure has no such obstruction.

    1.1. Apollonian circle packings. A theorem often attributed to Apollonius of Perga states that, given
    three mutually tangent circles in the plane, there are exactly two ways to draw a fourth circle tangent to the
    first three. By starting with three such circles, we can add in the two solutions of Apollonius (sometimes called
    Soddy circles after an ode by the famous chemist), obtaining five. New triples appear, and by continuing
    this process, one obtains a fractal called an Apollonian circle packing (Figure 1).
    Any solution to Apollonius’ problem produces four mutually tangent circles. A Descartes quadruple is a
    quadruple of four real numbers (a, b, c, d) such that
    • (a + b + c + d)2 = 2(a2 + b2 + c2 + d2 ) (the Descartes equation);
    • a + b + c + d > 0.
    Given any Descartes quadruple, there exist four mutually tangent circles in the plane with those curvatures
    (straight lines are included as circles of curvature zero, and a negative curvatures represents a swap of
    orientation, placing the point at infinity in the interior). In particular, a Descartes quadruple generates a
    unique Apollonian circle packing (whereas an Apollonian circle packing contains many Descartes quadruples).
    For this and general background on Apollonian circle packings, see [GLM+ 03].
    A simple but remarkable consequence of the Descartes equation is that if a, b, c, d ∈ Z, then all curvatures
    in the packing are integral. Call such a configuration, and the packing it generates, integral, and if we
    furthermore have gcd(a, b, c, d) = 1, call both primitive. Figure 1 depicts part of the packing obtained from
    the Descartes quadruple (−23, 48, 49, 52), with circles labelled by curvature (the outer circle being the unique
    one of negative curvature). Note that the four curvatures in the Descartes quadruple are the smallest four
    that appear in the packing; such a quadruple is unique, and is called the root quadruple. We frequently
    describe circle packings by their root quadruple.

    1.2. The set of curvatures of an Apollonian circle packing. Given a primitive Apollonian circle
    packing A, we study the set of curvatures which appear. This question was first addressed in the work of
    Graham, Lagarias, Mallows, Wilks, and Yan in [GLM+ 03] as the “Strong Density Conjecture”, appearing
    near the end of Section 6. This was later revised by Fuchs and Sanden in [FS11], and has come to be known
    as the “local-global conjecture” or “local-global principle.”

    Conjecture 1.1 ([GLM+ 03, FS11]). Let A be a primitive Apollonian circle packing containing curvatures
    equivalent to r (mod 24). The set of positive integers x ≡ r (mod 24) not occurring in A is finite.

    Call a positive curvature c missing in A if curvatures equivalent to c (mod 24) appear in A but c does
    not. By computing the frequency of curvatures that appear up to 5 · 108 in the packings corresponding to
    (−1, 2, 2, 3) and (−11, 21, 24, 28), Fuchs and Sanden observe a tendency toward increasing multiplicity for
    larger curvatures, which is evidence towards there being few missing curvatures. The current best known
    result is due to Bourgain and Kontorovich.
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    3537 14401 3888
    11608

    5209
    2161
    14176

    6777 13897
    7201
    11961 3249
    11296
    9513
    12145
    11736

    3492 11473
    9753 2668
    5137
    9528

    9369
    7096
    7777 2145
    11956

    14857

    14257
    7552

    13729

    10921
    13036
    6033
    1680
    8433

    6265 10768
    13657

    1273
    5808
    4417 14608

    4521
    9721
    12436

    14776 13384

    2889 9136

    14313

    12561
    7801
    9304

    1681
    13432 13009
    4944

    924
    9897 10168
    10681

    14784
    11985 6928 3241 4296
    8244

    6121 10716 9544 9121


    14433

    13009 5529 9889


    14496

    13296 14248 4312 5112 11593


    14569

    5356

    793
    12148 13404

    11052

    10008

    2817
    14425
    10345
    2032 3825 6172 9073 12528
    12297 8025 4657
    2193

    633
    9016 8896 12112
    14448 9169
    14572 10257
    10825 13188
    8076 7632 8449
    9324 6393
    7201
    4993
    7188 6048 3433 3016
    9073
    2908 6400

    108
    6352 12201
    12100

    5568
    9600
    4800 1636 8968
    1377
    10368 12673

    6328

    4836 14361 11556 10860

    5977
    4156 12673 12492

    14656
    6328
    4977

    400
    11233

    3528 13081 10708


    10356

    10072
    2200 3952
    12148

    5340 6025

    769
    2952
    13929
    12865 10881
    13992
    14737
    12937 7777 8764
    13288

    11164
    4756
    2428 4273
    12852
    8889
    10665

    3681
    1960 1968 12769

    5932 7012

    225
    8713
    7105 12873

    1956
    12024 11665

    8673
    5841 10417
    11604

    13060
    11692
    11241
    14488 4057
    5529 11956 5812

    1536
    6900
    6889
    13900 10497
    10321 12105 12177
    14848 9904 14848

    7272 6136

    4161 8956
    14916

    4753 2137 7252

    1168
    8020

    2764
    13233

    3577
    12484 12313
    12580
    5313 7216
    8820 10033
    11121
    6424 12904

    3001
    14161
    9672
    11380 6033 4153
    14712
    9217 13600
    12540
    7521
    11532 3244 9508

    4996

    1305
    8521

    852
    4360 8793 8457
    12400

    6817
    11953 8833
    2049 9801 5268
    13513

    2833
    13521

    1152
    10129 9592
    9328
    3945 14089

    6337
    7524

    588
    8380
    10156
    14473 5977 10636 14473

    7393
    3745 3748

    216
    11833

    8473 11137
    11488

    2308

    376
    13248
    7369 6649
    12153
    6640
    2785 12177 12825

    1825 13788

    3868 12081

    5848 12852

    5128
    10041 11329 13153
    4777
    14817
    10017 5832
    14232

    9337 8200
    5617 9081 10972

    6169 14737 14148

    13705

    12984

    1833
    8137
    4420 11529 3649
    9100
    10852
    11872
    12009 6865 11176

    4473

    568
    11692

    10812 3784
    3385 12721
    8737 11812

    1777
    12505
    14617 8928
    6448
    6441 9484 12537
    7345 4372
    2700
    1432
    9004
    9804 13401

    13873 13873

    4660
    4984 14412
    13872

    8865 3537 7993


    14392 8884 11481
    9729 10264
    8289

    11641
    7944
    4953
    14820
    2668 1089 14440

    7009
    11593
    7116
    3729 9708

    1081
    12472

    7092 9609
    12241
    13648
    5929

    553
    14521

    2188
    14833
    7192

    12528 6292
    12177
    8812 3144 6297 10540

    3673 4329 3465 7836

    1764
    8713
    11460
    11305 9001 14644

    5544 12316 10048


    7801 5536 11424
    10444

    2617
    12753
    13473 13473

    12265
    8425
    8608

    1384 5833 14296 3640

    1060
    14065
    12360
    4833
    14476 11329 8568 6193 4204 2601 11121

    8881 9432
    7729
    6196
    9393 11305
    13348 13348

    7708

    9393
    3612
    6900
    3072
    1737 2584
    12609

    11248

    6144
    3601 4788 6145 7672 9369 11236 13273
    10276
    7665 5440 8488 12216
    14332 11217 13248

    Figure 1. Circles of curvature ≤ 15000 in the Apollonian circle packing corresponding to


    (−23, 48, 49, 52). The local-global conjecture is false for every residue class modulo 24 in this
    packing.

    Theorem 1.2 ([BK14]). The number of missing curvatures up to N is at most O(N 1−η ) for some effectively
    computable η > 0.

    In this paper, we prove that Conjecture 1.1 is false for many packings.

    Theorem 1.3. There exist infinitely many primitive Apollonian circle packings for which the number of
    √
    missing curvatures up to N is Ω( N ). In particular, the local-global conjecture is false for these packings.
    3
    This theorem is proven by showing that certain quadratic and quartic families of curvatures (of the form
    ux and ux4 for a fixed integer u) are missing from some packings. A precise description of the obstructions
    2

    is found in Theorem 2.5.


    While Conjecture 1.1 is false in general, there still remain some families where it could be true, as we find
    no new obstructions. For the other packings, we can also remove the quadratic and quartic obstructions, and
    ask if the remaining set of curvatures is now finite.

    Definition 1.4. Let A be a primitive Apollonian circle packing, and define SA to be the set of missing
    curvatures which do not lie in one of the quadratic or quartic obstruction classes as described in Theorem
    2.5. Call this set the “sporadic set” for A. For a positive integer N , define SA (N ) to be the set of sporadic
    curvatures in A that are at most N .

    By writing an efficient program using C and PARI/GP [PAR23] to compute missing curvatures, we are
    able to find SA (N ) for various packings A and bounds N in the range [1010 , 1012 ]. This code can be found
    in the GitHub repository [Ric23a], and the sets SA (N ) are found in the GitHub repository [Ric23b]. Some
    of this data is summarized in Tables 1 and 2, which support a revised conjecture. This revised conjecture
    remains in concordance with the earlier analysis of Fuchs and Sanden, which indicates a sparsity of missing
    curvatures.

    Conjecture 1.5. Let A be a primitive Apollonian circle packing. Then SA is finite.

    In other words, every sufficiently large curvature will appear in the given primitive Apollonian circle
    packing A, except for curvatures lying in one of the linear, quadratic, or quartic families described by
    Theorem 2.5.

    1.3. The method of proof. To illustrate the method of proof, we will prove an example theorem in the
    simplest case. The remainder of the paper is devoted to the details of the general proof, which is more
    involved, but follows the same general plan.

    Theorem 1.6. The Apollonian circle packing A generated by the quadruple (−3, 5, 8, 8) has no square
    curvatures.

    Proof. First, we observe that all curvatures n in this packing have n ≡ 0, 1 (mod 4).
    Fix a circle C ∈ A of curvature n. It is well-known that the curvatures of the family of circles tangent
    to C are the values properly represented by a translated quadratic form fC (x, y) − n of discriminant −4n2
    (see Section 3.2). Modulo n, the invertible values reside in a single multiplicative coset of the squares (see
    Proposition 4.1 and its proof), and we therefore define the symbol χ2 (C) to be the unique non-zero value of
    the Kronecker symbol nc for c a curvature of a circle tangent to C. In particular, χ2 (C) = −1 implies that
    

    square curvatures cannot be tangent to C.


    Now suppose that C1 , C2 ∈ A are tangent, having non-zero coprime curvatures a and b respectively. Using
    quadratic reciprocity of the Kronecker symbol (recall that a, b ≡ 0, 1 (mod 4) with at least one being odd),
    a  b 
    χ2 (C1 )χ2 (C2 ) = = 1.
    b a
    In particular, χ2 (C1 ) = χ2 (C2 ).
    4
    It can be shown that any two circles in A are connected by a path of pairwise coprime curvatures
    (Corollary 4.7). Therefore, χ2 (C) is independent of the choice of circle C ∈ A, and we have defined χ2 (A).
    Since 5 and 8 are coprime curvatures in the generating quadruple, we can compute χ2 (A) as
     
    8
    χ2 (A) = = −1.
    5
    We conclude that if there exists a square curvature in A, it would be tangent to a circle C with χ2 (C) = −1,
    a contradiction. Therefore there do not exist square curvatures in A. □

    For other quadratic obstructions, there are two main difficulties in extending this proof to all cases. When
    investigating the families ux2 for u = 2, 3, 6, we additionally need to focus on circles of curvature coprime to
    6. Furthermore, when the packing contains curvatures that are 2, 3 (mod 4), the Kronecker symbol used in
    the above proof may not translate across the packing, or even be well-defined! This requires modifying the
    definition of χ2 (C) in cases according to the curvature of C modulo 4.
    The quartic obstructions are not dissimilar in spirit. Instead of studying the quadratic form of tangent
    curvatures, whose values are integers, we study the associated fractional ideal of Z[i]. The study of these
    ideals depend on some results describing Apollonian circle packings as orbits of a subgroup of the Bianchi
    group PSL(2, Z[i]) [Sta18b]. Thus, quartic obstructions are a result of the Apollonian group’s close connection
    to the Gaussian integers.

    1.4. Reciprocity obstructions in thin groups. Call the quadratic and quartic obstructions found in
    this paper reciprocity obstructions. These obstruct the orbit of the Apollonian group (i.e. all Descartes
    quadruples in a fixed packing), and not the orbit of the larger Zariski closure, which is an orthogonal group
    of transformations preserving the Descartes equation (the Zariski closure was found in [Fuc11]). Indeed, the
    super-Apollonian group lies between both groups, and an orbit contains all primitive integral Apollonian
    circle packings (see [GLM+ 06]). As every integer occurs in at least one packing, every single integer is
    represented, so there are no missing curvatures in the orbit of the Super-Apollonian group. Sarnak also
    remarked on the lack of a spin group obstruction for the Descartes form in [Sar11, p. 301-302]. Thus, the
    obstructions discussed here are truly a phenomenon of the thin group. As they arise from reciprocity, they
    should be considered a new class of thin group obstruction analogous to the Brauer-Manin obstruction.
    We expect that variants of these reciprocity obstructions exist in other thin group settings. In particular,
    the known obstructions to a number appearing in the orbit of a thin group now fall into one of the following
    categories:
    • Analytic: the count of numbers that appear up to N (including multiplicity) is O(N δ ) where δ < 1.
    Computation of δ is typically a Hausdorff dimension question, and it is clear that this is a restriction.
    • Algebraic:
    – Congruence obstructions, where certain residue classes do not appear;
    – Reciprocity obstructions, where certain power families do not appear.
    Of course, some orbits may not have reciprocity obstructions, or even congruence obstructions! For exam-
    ple, in [Kon13], it is shown that there are no congruence obstructions for Zaremba’s conjecture. Furthermore,
    in [Kon19], it is shown that the local-global conjecture does hold for Soddy sphere packings. Despite this,
    one expects other instances of thin groups to produce reciprocity obstructions (this will be the topic of a
    follow-up paper).
    5
    Acknowledgements. The authors are grateful to the Department of Mathematics at the University of
    Colorado Boulder for sponsoring the Research Experience for Undergraduates and Graduates in Summer
    2023, which led to this project (these obstructions were first observed in the context of another problem;
    see Corollary 2.9). We are also grateful to Alex Kontorovich, Peter Sarnak and Richard Evan Schwartz for
    feedback on an earlier version of this paper.

    2. Precise statement of the results

    Curvatures modulo 24 in a primitive Apollonian circle packing fall into a set of six or eight possible
    residues, called the admissible residues for the packing. There are six possible sets of these residue classes,
    detailed in the following proposition.

    Proposition 2.1. Let A be a primitive Apollonian circle packing. Let R(A) be the set of residues modulo
    24 of the curvatures in A. Then R(A) is one of six possible sets, labelled by a type as follows:
    Type R(A)
    (6, 1) 0, 1, 4, 9, 12, 16
    (6, 5) 0, 5, 8, 12, 20, 21
    (6, 13) 0, 4, 12, 13, 16, 21
    (6, 17) 0, 8, 9, 12, 17, 20
    (8, 7) 3, 6, 7, 10, 15, 18, 19, 22
    (8, 11) 2, 3, 6, 11, 14, 15, 18, 23

    The set R(A) is called the admissible set of the packing. Each admissible set is labelled by a type (x, k)
    where x is its cardinality and k is the smallest residue in R that is coprime to 24.

    Definition 2.2. Let A be a primitive Apollonian circle packing, let u and d be positive integers, and let
    Sd,u := {und : n ∈ Z}. In anticipation of the source of the new obstructions we discover, we say that the set
    Sd,u forms a reciprocity obstruction to A if
    • Infinitely many elements of Sd,u are admissible in A modulo 24;
    • No element of Sd,u appears as a curvature in A.
    If d = 2 we call it a quadratic obstruction, and if d = 4 it is a quartic obstruction.

    Note that some reciprocity obstructions are stronger than others, as (for example) we have S2,3 ⊇ S2,18
    and S2,9 ⊇ S4,9 . We will tend to only associate “maximal” reciprocity obstruction classes to packings, i.e.
    where no stronger reciprocity obstructions exist.
    It is clear that if there exists a reciprocity obstruction for A, then the local-global conjecture 1.1 cannot
    hold for A, and more specifically, for any of the admissible residue classes intersecting Sd,u . For each of these
    classes, adding a single gcd condition to n will give us the intersection of Sd,u with that class.
    In order to describe the quadratic and quartic obstructions, it is necessary to subdivide the types further.
    There exists a function

    χ2 : {circles in a primitive Apollonian circle packing} → {±1}

    which relates to the possible curvatures of circles tangent to the input circle C, and is constant across the
    packing containing C. In particular, this gives a well defined value for χ2 (A) for primitive Apollonian circle
    6
    packings A. Furthermore, there exists a function

    χ4 : {circles in a primitive Apollonian circle packing of type (6, 1) or (6, 17)} → {1, i, −1, −i}

    that satisfies χ4 (C)2 = χ2 (C), and is also constant across a packing (necessarily of type (6, 1) or (6, 17); it is
    left undefined for other types). This again gives a well defined value for χ4 (A).
    The value of χ2 determines which quadratic obstructions occur, and the value of χ4 determines which
    quartic obstructions occur. We compute χ2 in terms of the quadratic residuosity of the curvatures tangent
    to a circle, and χ4 in terms of a quartic residue symbol. Full definitions come in Sections 4.1 and 5.2, but
    we can give a quick way to compute χ2 (A) here (which follows directly from the definition).

    Proposition 2.3. Let A be a primitive Apollonian circle packing, and let (a, b) be a pair of curvatures of
    circles tangent to each other in A that also satisfies:
    • a is coprime to 6b;
    • if A is of type (8, k), then a ≡ 7 (mod 8).
    Then χ2 (A) = ab .
    

    The definition of χ4 relies on a finer invariant using the quartic residue symbol for Gaussian integers. The
    essential fact that the symbol is constant across a packing is a direct consequence of quadratic and quartic
    reciprocity.

    Definition 2.4. The (extended) type of a primitive Apollonian circle packing A is either the triple (x, k, χ2 )
    or (x, k, χ2 , χ4 ), where A has type (x, k) and corresponding values of χ2 (and χ4 , if relevant). We will refer
    to the type as any of the three possible variants, as they are uniquely distinguished by the number of entries.

    Theorem 2.5. The type of a primitive Apollonian circle packing A implies the existence of certain quadratic
    and quartic obstructions, as described by the following table (which also includes the list of residues modulo
    24 where Conjecture 1.1 is false, and those where it is still open):
    Type Quadratic Obstructions Quartic Obstructions 1.1 false 1.1 open
    (6, 1, 1, 1) 0, 1, 4, 9, 12, 16
    (6, 1, 1, −1) n4 , 4n4 , 9n4 , 36n4 0, 1, 4, 9, 12, 16
    (6, 1, −1) n2 , 2n2 , 3n2 , 6n2 0, 1, 4, 9, 12, 16
    2 2
    (6, 5, 1) 2n , 3n 0, 8, 12 5, 20, 21
    2 2
    (6, 5, −1) n , 6n 0, 12 5, 8, 20, 21
    2 2
    (6, 13, 1) 2n , 6n 0 4, 12, 13, 16, 21
    2 2
    (6, 13, −1) n , 3n 0, 4, 12, 16 13, 21
    2 2 4 4
    (6, 17, 1, 1) 3n , 6n 9n , 36n 0, 9, 12 8, 17, 20
    2 2 4 4
    (6, 17, 1, −1) 3n , 6n n , 4n 0, 9, 12 8, 17, 20
    2 2
    (6, 17, −1) n , 2n 0, 8, 9, 12 17, 20
    2 2
    (8, 7, 1) 3n , 6n 3, 6 7, 10, 15, 18, 19, 22
    2
    (8, 7, −1) 2n 18 3, 6, 7, 10, 15, 19, 22
    (8, 11, 1) 2, 3, 6, 11, 14, 15, 17, 23
    2 2 2
    (8, 11, −1) 2n , 3n , 6n 2, 3, 6, 18 11, 14, 15, 23
    7
    Remark 2.6. The intersection of quadratic and quartic obstructions with a residue class can be described by
    adding a condition on n. For example, the obstruction 2n2 in type (6, 17, −1) intersects the class 8 (mod 24)
    as 2(6n ± 2)2 , and the class 0 (mod 24) as 2(6n)2 .

    Remark 2.7. We could consider the χ4 value for packings of types (6, 1, −1) and (6, 17, −1), which would
    be either i or −i. Both of these χ4 values imply that the families n4 , 4n4 , 9n4 , 36n4 are quartic obstructions.
    However, we already have n2 as a quadratic obstruction, which is strictly stronger. This is why they are
    not listed, as the quartic obstruction does not give anything the quadratic did not (see the discussion below
    Definition 2.2). This is why we did not attempt to extend the definition of χ4 to other packing types: we did
    not find any further quartic obstructions in our computations (that were not already ruled out by quadratic
    obstructions).

    A few direct corollaries from Theorem 2.5 are noted next.

    Corollary 2.8. The local-global conjecture 1.1 is false for at least one residue class in all primitive Apollonian
    circle packings that are not of type (6, 1, 1, 1) or (8, 11, 1).

    The exceptions where the local-global conjecture may yet hold include the strip packing (generated from
    the root quadruple (0, 0, 1, 1)), and the bug-eye packing (generated from (−1, 2, 2, 3)).
    The following corollary is the phenomenon which led to the discovery of quadratic obstructions.

    Corollary 2.9. Curvatures 24m2 (necessarily 0 mod 24) and 8n2 with 3 ∤ n (necessarily 8 mod 24) cannot
    appear in the same primitive Apollonian circle packing, despite 0 (mod 24) and 8 (mod 24) being simulta-
    neously admissible in packings of type (6, 5) or (6, 17).

    Remark 2.10. Apollonian circle packings have been generalized in a variety of ways. In [Sta18a], K-
    Apollonian packings were defined for each imaginary quadratic field K, where the Q(i)-Apollonian case is
    the subject of this paper. It is quite possible that quadratic obstructions occur in these packings, as they
    share many features with Apollonian packings, including the fact that quadratic forms control the family
    of tangent curvatures. The existence of quartic obstructions is less likely, since these depend on quartic
    reciprocity, which is defined only for K = Q(i). The family of packings studied in [FSZ19] are also governed
    by quadratic forms (this was the essential feature needed for the positive density results of that paper),
    and include the K-Apollonian packings; these are likely subject to quadratic obstructions as well. It would
    also be interesting to ask the same question about an even wider class of packings studied by Kapovich and
    Kontorovich [KK23].

    In Section 3, we cover the background material required, including the connection between circle packings
    and values of binary quadratic forms. The proof of the quadratic obstructions comes in Section 4, and the
    quartic obstructions are found in Section 5. Computational evidence to support Conjecture 1.5 is found in
    Section 6.

    3. Residue classes and quadratic forms

    In this section we prove Proposition 2.1, and give the background material on the connection between
    quadratic forms and circle packings.
    8
    To begin, consider a Descartes quadruple (a, b, c, d) contained in an Apollonian circle packing. The act of
    swapping the ith circle to obtain the other solution described by Apollonius is called a move, and is denoted
    Si . In terms of the quadruples, S1 corresponds to

    S1 : (a, b, c, d) → (2b + 2c + 2d − a, b, c, d).

    Analogous equations for S2 to S4 hold. It is possible to move between every pair of Descartes quadruples in a
    fixed circle packing via a finite sequence of these moves (up to a permutation of the entries of the quadruples).
    The classical Apollonian group is generated by these four moves as transformations in the orthogonal group
    preserving the Descartes form (which has signature 3, 1).

    3.1. Residue classes. In [GLM+ 03], Graham-Lagarias-Mallows-Wilks-Yan proved that the residues modulo
    12 of a primitive Apollonian circle packing A fall into one of the following four sets:

    {0, 1, 4, 9}, {2, 3, 6, 11}, {3, 6, 7, 10}, {0, 5, 8, 9}.

    They also proved that if m is coprime to 30, then every residue class modulo m occurs in A. In her PhD
    thesis [Fuc10], Fuchs proved that there are in fact restrictions modulo 24, and that this is the “best possible
    modulus.” However, to the best of our knowledge, the exact list of the possible admissible sets modulo 24
    found in Proposition 2.1 has not appeared in the literature until now, and requires justification. We give a
    self-contained proof of Proposition 2.1. The key observation is the following result.

    Proposition 3.1. Let tangent circles in a primitive Apollonian circle packing have curvatures a, b. Then
    a + b ̸≡ 3, 6, 7 (mod 8).

    Proof. Assume otherwise. Then the odd part of a + b is equivalent to 3 (mod 4), so there exists an odd
    prime p with p ≡ 3 (mod 4) and vp (a + b) odd. Let (a, b, c, d) be a Descartes quadruple corresponding to our
    starting circles, and rearranging the Descartes equation gives

    (a − b)2 + (c − d)2 = 2(a + b)(c + d).

    Since the left hand side is a sum of two squares that is a multiple of p ≡ 3 (mod 4), it follows that p | a−b, c−d,
    and vp (LHS) is even. Therefore vp (c + d) is odd, hence p | c + d as well. Thus p | a, b, c, d, so the quadruple
    is not primitive, contradiction. □

    Rather than work modulo 24, we consider modulo 3 and 8 separately.

    Lemma 3.2. Let A be a primitive Apollonian circle packing. Then the set of Descartes quadruples in A
    taken modulo 3 is one of the following sets:
    (a) {(0, 0, 1, 1), (0, 1, 1, 1)} and all permutations;
    (b) {(0, 0, 2, 2), (0, 2, 2, 2)} and all permutations.

    Proof. By dividing into cases based on the number of curvatures that are multiples of 3, a straightforward
    computation shows the claimed sets are the only solutions to Descartes’s equation modulo 3. By considering
    the moves S1 to S4 , we see that they fall into the two classes. □

    Lemma 3.3. Let A be a primitive Apollonian circle packing. Then the set of Descartes quadruples in A
    taken modulo 8 is one of the following sets:
    9
    (a) {(0, 0, 1, 1), (0, 4, 1, 1), (4, 4, 1, 1)} and all permutations;
    (b) {(0, 0, 5, 5), (0, 4, 5, 5), (4, 4, 5, 5)} and all permutations;
    (c) {(2, 2, 3, 7), (2, 6, 3, 7), (6, 6, 3, 7)} and all permutations.

    Proof. Let (a, b, c, d) be a primitive Descartes quadruple in A. Considering the Descartes equation modulo
    2, there is an even number of odd numbers amongst a, b, c, d. This cannot be zero (as the quadruple would
    not be primitive), and it cannot be 4, as otherwise (a + b + c + d)2 ≡ 8 (mod 16). Therefore there are always
    two odd and two even, so without loss of generality assume that c, d are odd and a, b are even.
    Assume c ≡ 1 (mod 4). By Proposition 3.1, a ≡ b ≡ 0 (mod 4) (else a + c ≡ 3 (mod 4)). Thus we also
    have d ≡ 1 (mod 4), and in fact d ≡ c (mod 8), as otherwise c + d ≡ 6 (mod 8). This gives the quadruples
    listed in (a) and (b), and by applying S1 through S4 , we see them fall into two classes.
    Finally, assume c ≡ 3 (mod 4). In this case we must have a ≡ b ≡ 2 (mod 4), which implies that d ≡ 3
    (mod 4) as well. Consequently we have c ̸≡ d (mod 8), else c + d ≡ 6 (mod 8). This gives the quadruples in
    (c), and again, the moves S1 to S4 show that they form one class. □

    A consequence of Lemmas 3.2 and 3.3 is that


    • R(A) (mod 3) = {0, 1} or {0, 2};
    • R(A) (mod 8) = {0, 1, 4} or {0, 4, 5} or {2, 3, 6, 7}.
    The Chinese remainder theorem gives six ways to combine these two congruences into a congruence set
    modulo 24, resulting in exactly the six sets described in Proposition 2.1. For each of the six sets, there
    do exist primitive packings with those admissible sets. The only remaining issue is justification that we do
    actually get curvatures corresponding to every pair of residues modulo 3 and 8, i.e. that they do not conspire
    against each other in the packing (which would lead to a subset of the claimed admissible set). A more
    general version of the following lemma exists in [Fuc10].

    Lemma 3.4. Let A be a primitive Apollonian circle packing containing a curvature equivalent to r1 (mod 3)
    and another curvature equivalent to r2 (mod 8). Then there exists a curvature in A that is simultaneously
    equivalent to r1 (mod 3) and r2 (mod 8).

    Proof. Let (a, b, c, d) be a Descartes quadruple in A, and assume that a ≡ r2 (mod 8). If (a, b, c, d) (mod 3)
    has two zeroes, then swapping either of them produces the non-zero residue. If it has a single zero, then
    swapping a non-zero residue gives a zero. In particular, we can always apply a sequence of moves to get
    (a′ , b′ , c′ , d′ ) where a′ ≡ r1 (mod 3). Furthermore, we can assume that if r1 ≡ 0 then b ≡ c ≡ d ̸≡ 0 (mod 3),
    and if r1 ̸≡ 0, then b ≡ r1 (mod 3) and c ≡ d ≡ 0 (mod 3). Note that the moves do not change the curvatures
    modulo 4, hence a′ ≡ r2 , r2 + 4 (mod 8). If it is r2 (mod 8) we are done. Otherwise it is r2 + 4 (mod 8), and
    then the move S1 will take it to r2 (mod 8) and will not change it modulo 3, completing the proof. □

    In particular, Proposition 2.1 follows.


    Proposition 3.1 is not just useful for eliminating possible admissible sets; it can also rule out behaviours
    in certain packings. A direct corollary that will be useful later is as follows.

    Corollary 3.5. Let A be a primitive Apollonian circle packing of type (8, k), and assume two circles with
    odd curvatures a, b are tangent to each other. Then one of a, b is 3 (mod 8), and the other is 7 (mod 8).
    10
    3.2. Quadratic forms. Generating integral Apollonian circle packings seems tricky at first glance, as it
    requires integral solutions to the Descartes equation. This step is solved by a direct connection to quadratic
    forms, as first described in [GLM+ 03].

    Definition 3.6. A primitive integral positive definite binary quadratic form is a function of the form
    f (x, y) = Ax2 + Bxy + Cy 2 , where A, B, C ∈ Z, gcd(A, B, C) = 1, A > 0, and D := B 2 − 4AC < 0. Call D
    the discriminant of f . The group PGL(2, Z) acts on the set of forms as follows:
    !
    a b
    ◦ f := f (ax + by, cx + d).
    c d
    This action preserves the discriminant, and divides the set of forms of a fixed discriminant into a finite
    number of equivalence classes.

    See the books by Buell [Bue89] or Cohen [Coh93] for a longer exposition on quadratic forms. Note that
    while most references study the PSL(2, Z) action, we will need the extended PGL(2, Z) action, which no
    longer gives rise to a group.

    Proposition 3.7 ([GLM+ 03, Theorem 4.2]). Let (a, b, c, d) be a primitive Descartes quadruple. Then

    (a + b)x2 + (a + b + c − d)xy + (a + c)y 2

    is a primitive integral positive definite binary quadratic form of discriminant −4a2 .


    Similarly, let Ax2 +Bxy+Cy 2 be a primitive integral positive definite binary quadratic form of discriminant
    −4a2 . Then
    (a, A − a, C − a, A + C − B − a)
    is a primitive Descartes quadruple.
    These two notions are inverse to each other, and induce a bijection between quadratic forms of discriminant
    −4a2 and Descartes quadruples containing a as the first curvature.

    Given a circle C of curvature a in a primitive Apollonian circle packing, we can associate a Descartes
    quadruple (a, b, c, d) to C, and therefore a quadratic form. The ambiguity in choosing the Descartes quadruple
    exactly corresponds to taking a PGL(2, Z)−equivalence class of quadratic forms (hence the need to go beyond
    the PSL(2, Z) action). This is shown in [GLM+ 03]; see also Proposition 3.1.3 of [Ric23c].

    Definition 3.8. Let C be a circle of curvature n ̸= 0 in a primitive Apollonian circle packing, and define fC
    to be a primitive integral positive definite binary quadratic form of discriminant −4n2 that corresponds to
    C via Proposition 3.7.

    Remark 3.9. For the rest of the paper we will assume that n ̸= 0 for convenience. The results should still
    hold for n = 0, but as this only corresponds to the strip packing (0, 0, 1, 1), it will be of no use here.

    While fC is only defined up to a PGL(2, Z)−equivalence class, this will not matter, and it is more conve-
    nient to always refer to it as a bona fide quadratic form, and not just a representative of its equivalence class.
    Furthermore, if the circle packing A containing C has symmetries, multiple distinct circles may correspond
    to the same Descartes quadruple, and hence the same quadratic form. This fact is of no importance in this
    paper.
    11
    Given a quadratic form f , the values properly represented by f are the numbers of the form f (x, y) where
    x, y are coprime integers. This set is constant across a PGL(2, Z)−equivalence class of forms. In [Sar07],
    Sarnak made a crucial observation connecting curvatures of circles tangent to C and properly represented
    values of fC .

    Proposition 3.10. The set of curvatures of circles tangent to C in A is in bijection with the set of fC (x, y)−n,
    where n is the curvature of C and (x, y) is a pair of coprime integers.

    This observation has been a key ingredient in nearly every result on Apollonian circle packings since, and
    this paper is no exception.

    4. Quadratic obstructions

    Let A be a primitive Apollonian circle packing, and fix a set S2,u = {uw2 : w ∈ Z} for some fixed positive
    integer u which has no prime divisors larger than 3. The strategy to prove that no element of S2,u appears
    as a curvature in A is:
    (1) For each circle C ∈ A, define χ2 (C) ∈ {±1} which relates to the possible curvatures of circles tangent
    to C, and prove that it is an invariant of A:
    (a) Prove that the value of χ2 is equal for tangent circles with coprime curvatures;
    (b) Prove that given any two circles in A, there exists a path from one to the other via tangencies,
    where each consecutive pair of curvatures is coprime;
    Thus, we define a value χ2 (A) ∈ {±1} for each packing A.
    (2) Prove that for a fixed u, packings with a certain χ2 (A) value and type cannot accommodate curva-
    tures in S2,u in circles tangent to a “large” subset of A.
    (3) Prove that every circle in A is tangent to an element of this large subset.
    For circle packings with the certain χ2 (C) value and type, these steps imply that curvatures in S2,u cannot
    appear anywhere in the packing. For each admissible residue class contained in S2,u , we get a quadratic
    obstruction.

    4.1. Definition of χ2 . Let f (x, y) = Ax2 + Bxy + Cy 2 be a primitive integral positive definite binary
    quadratic form of discriminant −4n2 , for an integer n ̸= 0.

    Proposition 4.1. The set of properly represented invertible values of f (x, y) modulo n taken modulo squares,
    i.e.,
    {f (x, y) (mod n) : gcd(x, y) = gcd(f (x, y), n) = 1} ⊆ (Z/nZ)× /((Z/nZ)× )2 ,

    is a singleton set. Denote any lift of this value to the positive integers by ρ(f ).

    Proof. If A is coprime to n, observe that


    2 2
    n2 2
     
    B B
    f (x, y) = A x + y + y ≡A x+ y (mod n),
    2A A 2A

    hence this lies in the coset containing A. If A is not coprime to n, then we can replace f by a PSL(2, Z)
    translation of f for which the first coefficient is coprime to n. □
    12
    Note that the class of ρ(f ) is well-defined across a PGL(2, Z)−equivalence class of forms, as these forms
    properly represent the same integers. By using the Kronecker symbol, this allows us to determine a condition
    for numbers that are not represented by f .
     
    ρ(f )
    Proposition 4.2. Let n′ = n
    2 if n ≡ 2 (mod 4) and n′ = n otherwise. Then the Kronecker symbol n′
    2
     ) and
    is independent of the choice of ρ(f  takes values in {±1}. Furthermore, let uw be coprime to n, where
    ρ(f )
    u and w are positive integers. If n′ ̸= nu′ , then f (x, y) does not properly represent n + uw2 .

    Proof. Let ρ1 and ρ2 be two choices for ρ(f ). Then there exists integers s, t such that gcd(s, n) = 1 and
    ρ1 = s2 ρ2 + tn. Since n′ is either odd or a multiple of 4, the Kronecker symbol is well defined modulo n′ .
    Therefore
    s2 ρ2 + tn s2 ρ2
    ρ      ρ 
    1 2
    = = = ,
    n′ n′ n′ n′
     
    ρ(f )
    so the symbol n′ is well-defined as a function of f (the assumption that ρ1 , ρ2 > 0 is implicitly used if
    ′
    n < 0). Since ρ(f ) is coprime to n, the symbol takes values in {±1}.
    Finally, assume that f (x, y) properly represents n + uw2 . Since gcd(uw2 , n) = 1, we can take ρ(f ) = u,
    and the result follows from above. □

    Taking n′ instead of n in Proposition 4.2 was crucial, as if n ≡ 2 (mod 4), the Kronecker symbol is not
    well-defined modulo n.
    By using the correspondence between circles and quadratic forms, we can now assign a sign ±1 to each
    circle in an Apollonian circle packing, which will dictate what quadratic obstructions can occur adjacent to
    it. By Proposition 4.2, the following is well-defined.

    Definition 4.3. Let C be a circle in a primitive Apollonian circle packing of curvature n ̸= 0, and let
    ρ = ρ(fC ). Define
     ρ 
     if n ≡ 0, 1 (mod 4);
     n


      
     −ρ

    χ2 (C) := if n ≡ 2 (mod 4);
     n/2
     
    2ρ




     if n ≡ 3 (mod 4).
    n
    Assume that C is a circle having curvature n coprime to u and equivalent to either 1 (mod 4) or 7 (mod 8).
    Then χ2 (C) = nρ , so χ2 (C) ̸= nu would rule out the existence of a circle tangent to C of curvature uw2
     

    with w coprime to n.
    However, to rule out uw2 in the entire packing, we need to show that all such circles in a packing have
    the same value of χ2 . This requires walking through a tangency chain of intermediate circles not necessarily
    coprime to u. The various cases in the definition are designed for this purpose.

    4.2. Propagation of χ2 . For a circle packing of type (6, x), all curvatures are 0, 1 (mod 4), which makes
    the propagation fairly easy. For the (8, x) packings, all curvatures are 2, 3 (mod 4), and Corollary 3.5 will
    come into play.

    Proposition 4.4. Let C1 , C2 be tangent circles with non-zero coprime curvatures in a primitive Apollonian
    circle packing. Then χ2 (C1 ) = χ2 (C2 ).
    13
    Proof. Let the curvatures of C1 , C2 be a, b respectively. Since gcd(a + b, a) = gcd(a + b, b) = 1, by Proposition
    3.7, we can take ρ(fC1 ) = a + b = ρ(fC2 ) (noting that a + b > 0). We separate into cases based on the type
    of packing and a, b (mod 4).
    First, assume the packing has type (6, k). Then a, b ≡ 0, 1 (mod 4), with at least one being odd. Therefore
         
    a+b a+b a b
    χ2 (C1 )χ2 (C2 ) = = = 1,
    a b b a
    by quadratic reciprocity. This implies that χ2 (C1 ) = χ2 (C2 ), as claimed.
    Otherwise, the packing has type (8, k), and we make two cases. If both a and b are odd, by Corollary 3.5,
    we can assume a ≡ 3 (mod 8) and b ≡ 7 (mod 8). Thus
          
    2a + 2b 2a + 2b 2 b a
    χ2 (C1 )χ2 (C2 ) = = = (−1)(−1) = 1,
    a b ab a b
    where we used the fact that ab ≡ 5 (mod 8) and quadratic reciprocity.
    Finally, assume that a is odd and b is even, necessarily 2 (mod 4). Write b = 2b′ , and we compute
        ′    ′ 
    2a + 2b −a − b 4b −a −1 b a ′ ′
    χ2 (C1 )χ2 (C2 ) = = = = (−1)(b −1)/2 (−1)(b −1)/2 = 1,
    a b′ a b′ b′ a b′
    completing the proof. □

    4.3. Coprime curvatures. Since Proposition 4.4 requires coprime curvatures, to extend χ2 to the entire
    packing, we need some results on coprimality of tangent curvatures in the packing.
    If p divides the curvatures of two tangent circles C1 and C2 , then it is an immediate consequence of
    primitivity that there is a circle tangent to both C1 and C2 that is coprime to p. However, we need something
    slightly stronger: that for any C1 and C2 , we can find a circle tangent and coprime to both. For this, we
    characterise the possible curvatures tangent to both by a polynomial, and apply the Chinese remainder
    theorem.

    Lemma 4.5. Let (a, b, c, d) be a Descartes quadruple, where curvatures a, b correspond to circles C1 , C2
    respectively. The curvatures of the family of circles tangent to both C1 and C2 are parameterized by

    f (x) = (a + b)x2 − (a + b + c − d)x + c, x ∈ Z.

    Proof. The relevant family of curvatures is given by applying powers of S4 S3 to the initial quadruple. We
    have that 2(a + b + f (x + 1)) − f (x) = f (x + 2) and 2(a + b + f (x − 1)) − f (x) = f (x − 2). We show by
    two-tailed induction that

    (S4 S3 )k (a, b, f (0), f (1)) = (a, b, f (2k), f (2k + 1)), k ∈ Z.

    The forward inductive step is

    (S4 S3 )k+1 (a, b, f (0), f (1)) = (S4 S3 )(a, b, f (2k), f (2k + 1))
    = S4 (a, b, f (2k + 2), f (2k + 1))
    = (a, b, f (2(k + 1)), f (2(k + 1) + 1)),

    and the other direction is similar. □

    Lemma 4.6. Let C1 , C2 ∈ A be tangent circles in a primitive Apollonian circle packing. Then there exists a
    circle C ′ that is tangent to both C1 and C2 , and whose curvature is coprime to both C1 and C2 .
    14
    Proof. It suffices to show that the function f (x) of Lemma 4.5 takes at least one value simultaneously coprime
    to a and b. By the Chinese remainder theorem, it suffices, for each prime p dividing a or b, to show that f (x)
    does not vanish identically over Fp . Suppose p = 2, so at least one of a or b is even. Then, since any Descartes
    quadruple has two even curvatures and two odd curvatures, f (x) is not always even. For p > 2, a quadratic
    polynomial can only vanish on all of Fp if its coefficients vanish, in which case p | a + b, a + b + c − d, c. But
    then p | a, b, c, d, a contradiction in a primitive packing. □

    Corollary 4.7. Let C, C ′ ∈ A be two circles in a primitive Apollonian circle packing. Then there exists a
    path of circles C1 , C2 , . . . , Ck such that
    • C1 = C and Ck = C ′ ;
    • Ci is tangent to Ci+1 for all 1 ≤ i ≤ k − 1;
    • The curvatures of Ci and Ci+1 are non-zero and coprime for all 1 ≤ i ≤ k − 1.

    Proof. There exists a path of circles C1 , C2 , . . . , Ck that satisfy the first two requirements. For any consecutive
    pair whose curvatures are not coprime, by Lemma 4.6 we can insert another circle between them which is
    tangent with coprime curvature to each, which yields a valid path. □

    The following corollary now follows directly from Proposition 4.4 and Corollary 4.7.

    Corollary 4.8. The value of χ2 is constant across all circles in a fixed primitive Apollonian circle packing
    A. Denote this value by χ2 (A).

    Before proving the sets of quadratic obstructions, we have one final coprimality lemma.

    Lemma 4.9. Let C be a circle of curvature n in a primitive Apollonian circle packing. Then there exists a
    circle tangent to C with curvature coprime to 6n.

    Proof. If there is a circle tangent to C of curvature divisible by d = 6/ gcd(6, n), then we can use Lemma 4.6
    to finish.
    Using Lemma 3.2, let a represent the unique non-zero residue modulo 3 attained by this packing. By
    the same lemma, quadruples modulo 3 are of the form (0, a, a, a) or (0, 0, a, a) up to permutation, and
    furthermore, S2 swaps between these two. Modulo 2, they are always of the form (0, 0, 1, 1) up to permutation.
    Therefore, if d = 2 or 3, taking any quadruple containing C will suffice to find a curvature which is divisible
    by d.
    If d = 6 (in which case n is coprime to 6), take a quadruple containing C in the first position. If it contains
    a curvature divisible by 6, we are done. Otherwise, without loss of generality, it is simultaneously of the
    form (a, 0, a, a) (mod 3) and (1, 1, 0, 0) (mod 2); by applying the swap S3 or S4 we can obtain a curvature
    divisible by 6. □

    4.4. Quadratic obstructions. For each type of packing, we can assemble the above results to determine
    which values of u and χ2 produce quadratic obstructions.

    Proposition 4.10. Let A have type (6, k). Then the following quadratic obstructions occur, as a function
    of type and χ2 (A):
    15
    Type χ2 (A) Quadratic obstructions
    (6, 1) 1
    -1 n2 , 2n2 , 3n2 , 6n2
    (6, 5) 1 2n2 , 3n2
    -1 n2 , 6n2
    (6, 13) 1 2n2 , 6n2
    -1 n2 , 3n2
    (6, 17) 1 3n2 , 6n2
    -1 n2 , 2n2

    Proof. We work with the contrapositive: for each type, we assume a quadratic family appears, and compute
    χ2 (A). Assume that a circle of curvature uw2 appears in a packing A of type (6, k). By Lemma 4.9, it is
    tangent to a circle C with curvature n coprime to 24uw2 , hence we can take n ≡ k (mod 24). By Proposition
    4.2, the existence of the curvature uw2 tangent to C means
     u   ρ(f ) 
    C
    = = χ2 (A),
    n n
    using Definition 4.3 and Corollary 4.8. By quadratic reciprocity, we have
    2 3
     
    k (mod 24) n n
    1 1 1
    5 -1 -1
    13 -1 1
    17 1 -1
    These values give the claimed table. □

    Note that not listing a value of u as a quadratic obstruction in the table does not imply that it cannot be
    an obstruction, only that this proof method does not work for it. The completeness of these lists is discussed
    in Section 6.
    In particular, the (6, k) entries in the table of Theorem 2.5 are filled in by intersecting the quadratic
    obstructions with the possible residue classes. Next, we complete the computation for (8, k), which is similar
    but a little trickier. The issue stems from there being two residue classes that are coprime to 24.

    Proposition 4.11. Let A have type (8, k). Then the following quadratic obstructions occur, as a function
    of type and χ2 (A):
    Type χ2 (A) Quadratic obstructions
    (8, 7) 1 3n2 , 6n2
    −1 2n2
    (8, 11) 1
    −1 2n2 , 3n2 , 6n2

    Proof. Repeat the proof of Proposition 4.10: assume that a circle of curvature uw2 appears in A. Thus there
    exists a circle of curvature n coprime to 24uw2 that is tangent to our starting circle. Thus
     u   ρ(f )   2 
    C
    = = χ2 (A),
    n n n
    16
    2u
    
    i.e. χ2 (A) = n . By quadratic reciprocity, we have

    2 3
     
    k (mod 24) n n
    7 1 -1
    11 -1 1
    19 -1 -1
    23 1 1

    First, assume u = 2. Then χ2 (A) = 1, giving the conditions.


    Next, take u = 3. The only admissible residue class with elements of the form 3w2 is 3 (mod 24), so we
    can assume that w is odd. If the packing has type (8, 7), we divide in two cases.
    If n ≡ 7 (mod 24), then χ2 (A) = 2u
    
    n = −1. The other possibility is n ≡ 19 (mod 24). However, in this
    case the two circles under consideration have curvatures which are 3 (mod 8), in contradiction to Corollary
    3.5.
    For packing type (8, 11), a similar argument works. The case n ≡ 11 (mod 24) is ruled out by Corollary
    3.5, and n ≡ 23 (mod 24) implies χ2 (A) = 2u
    
    n = 1.
    The final case is u = 6. Then χ2 (A) = n3 , and the conclusion follows from the table of residues.
    
    □

    Remark 4.12. It is reasonable to ask if the results in this section can be extended to other values of u, as we
    focused on u | 6. The proof will work for larger values of u that have no prime divisors other than 2 or 3, but
    these obstructions are already contained in those with u | 6. If u has a prime divisor p ≥ 5, then the Kronecker
    symbol np cannot be determined from the residue class n (mod 24). It will rule out uw2 from appearing
    

    tangent to a subset of the circles in A, but this is not enough to cover the entire packing. Interestingly, this
    suggests that there may be “partial” obstructions: quadratic families whose members appear less frequently
    than other curvatures of the same general size.

    5. Quartic obstructions

    The proof strategy in this section is similar to the quadratic case, where we define an invariant on the
    circles in the packing, and show that this forbids certain curvatures. The main difference is the quartic
    restrictions will only apply to two types of packings, and the propagation of the invariant comes down to
    quartic reciprocity for Z[i].

    5.1. Quartic reciprocity. We recall the main definitions and results of quartic reciprocity; see Chapter 6
    of [Lem00] for a longer exposition.
    The Gaussian integers Z[i] form a unique factorization domain, with units being {1, i, −1, −i}. For α =
    a + bi ∈ Z[i], denote the norm of α by N (α) := a2 + b2 . We call α odd if N (α) is odd, and even otherwise.
    An even α is necessarily divisible by 1 + i.

    Definition 5.1. If α = a + bi ∈ Z[i] is odd, call it primary if α ≡ 1 (mod 2 + 2i). This is equivalent to
    (a, b) ≡ (1, 0), (3, 2) (mod 4).

    The associates of α are α, iα, −α, −iα. If α is odd, then exactly one associate of α is primary.

    17
    h i
    α
    Definition 5.2. The quartic residue symbol takes in two coprime elements α, β ∈ Z[i] with β odd, and
    β
    outputs a power of i. Let π be an odd prime of Z[i]. If α is coprime to π, define α
     
    π to be the unique power
    of i that satisfies
    hαi N (π)−1
    ≡α 4 (mod π).
    π
    Extend the quartic residue symbol multiplicatively in the denominator:
      h i    
    α α α α α
    = ··· ,
    uπ1 π2 · · · πn u π1 π2 πn
    where αu = 1 for any unit u ∈ Z[i].
     

    The basic properties of this symbol, and the statement of quartic reciprocity are summarized next, fol-
    lowing [Lem00].

    Proposition 5.3. [Lem00, Propositions 4.1, 6.8] The quartic residue symbol satisfies the following properties:
    h i h ih i
    a) If α1 , α2 ∈ Z[i] with α1 α2 coprime to an odd β ∈ Z[i], then α1βα2 = αβ1 αβ2 .
    h i h i
    b) If α1 , α2 , β ∈ Z[i] satisfy α1 ≡ α2 (mod β), α1 and β are coprime, and β is odd, then αβ1 = αβ2 .
    c) If a, b ∈ Z are coprime integers with b odd, then ab = 1.
     

    Proposition 5.4. [Lem00, Theorem 6.9] Let α = a + bi be primary. Then


           
    i 1−a −1 1+i a−b−b2 −1 2 −b
    =i 2 , = ib , =i 4 , =i 2 .
    α α α α
    If β ∈ Z[i] is relatively prime to α and primary, then
       
    α N (α)−1 N (β)−1 β
    = (−1) 4 4 .
    β α
    h i h i
    β
    In particular, if either α or β is an odd primary integer, then α β = α .

    5.2. Definition of χ4 . Let C be a circle of curvature n ̸= 0 in a primitive Apollonian circle packing. It


    is associated to [fC ], a PGL(2, Z)−equivalence class of primitive integral positive definite binary quadratic
    forms of discriminant −4n2 . In order to define χ2 (C), we observed that the values of the quadratic form fC
    were consistent in their residuosity modulo n: they were all either quadratic residues, or all non-residues (at
    least once we restricted to those coprime to n). By using the bijection between quadratic forms and fractional
    ideals, we obtain a unique homothety class of lattices [Λ], for some Λ ⊆ Q[i]. Recall that the values of fC
    are exactly the norms of the elements of Λ (up to a global scaling factor). By considering the elements of
    this lattice, instead of their norms, we can recover finer information than just quadratic residuosity: we can
    access quartic residuosity. This is the key insight in defining χ4 .
    Up to multiplication by a unit, there is a unique representative of [Λ] that lies inside Z[i] with covolume
    n [Sta18b, Proposition 5.1] (the cited proposition is more general, but it is only in the case of class number
    one that this is true of every homothety class).
    In general, any rank-2 lattice Λ ⊆ Z[i] has an order, ord(Λ) := {λ ∈ Z[i] : λΛ ⊆ Λ}, which is an order
    of Q(i), not necessarily maximal. By the conductor of Λ, we will mean the conductor of this order, which
    is a positive integer. The following can be proven by observing that Λ is locally principal, or by choosing a
    Hermite basis for Λ, which will have one element in ord(Λ).
    18
    Proposition 5.5. [Sta18b, Proposition 6.3] Let n be a positive integer. Let Λ ⊆ Z[i] be a lattice of covolume
    n and conductor n, and define

    SΛ := {β ∈ Λ : β is coprime to n}.

    Then the image of SΛ in (Z[i]/nZ[i])× /(Z/nZ)× consists of a single element.

    The uniqueness property allows us to define the invariant χ4 .

    Definition 5.6. Let A be a primitive Apollonian circle packing of type (6, 1) or (6, 17), and let C be a circle
    of non-zero curvature n in A, necessarily satisfying n ≡ 0, 1, 4 (mod 8). Suppose C corresponds to a lattice
    ΛC ⊆ Z[i] of covolume n. Let β = a + bi ∈ SΛC ∪ SiΛC , where β is chosen to be primary if n is even. Write
    n = 2e n′ where n′ is odd. Define χ4 (C) as
     h i
    be/4 β


     (−1) n′ if n ≡ 0 (mod 8);
    h i
    β
    χ4 (C) := n if n ≡ 1 (mod 8);


     −1
    h β i

    n′ n′ if n ≡ 4 (mod 8).

    Proposition 5.7. There exists a choice of β satisfying all requirements, and the definition of χ4 is well-
    defined, independent of this choice, and lies in {1, i, −1, −i}.

    Proof. First, the set SΛC ∪ SiΛC is uniquely determined by C. If n is odd and β, β ′ are two choices, then
    by Proposition 5.5 we have β ′ = ik (uβ + δ) for k = 0, 1, an integer u coprime to n, and δ ∈ nZ[i]. Using
    Propositions 5.3 and 5.4 (and recalling that n ≡ 1 (mod 8)), we compute
      k 
    β′
        h i   
    i uβ + δ uβ u β β
    (5.1) = = = = ,
    n n n n n n n

    so the symbol is well-defined.


    Next, assume n is even, hence a multiple of 4. Pick an arbitrary β ∈ SΛC , which is necessarily odd, and
    by replacing it with an associate, we can assume it is primary, which proves that a choice of β is possible.
    As before, assume that two valid choices are β, β ′ , so that β ′ = ik (uβ + δ) for some integer k = 0, 1,
    integer u coprime to n, and δ ∈ nZ[i]. Also write β = a + bi and β ′ = a′ + b′ i.
    If k = 1, then b and b′ have opposite parity, a contradiction to them being primary. Therefore k = 0, so
    β′ = i + hδ. In
    h ′uβ
    ′
    i particular, as n is an odd integer, the analogous computation to Equation 5.1 still holds,
    β β
    so n′ = n′ . It remains to check that the extra factors in the definition of χ4 in the even case are also
    independent.
    −1
    
    If n ≡ 4 (mod 8), the extra factor is n′ , which does not depend on β.
    If n ≡ 0 (mod 8), the extra factor is (−1)be/4 , which depends on b. We must verify that b ≡ 0 (mod 4),
    so that the exponent of be/4 is integral. Assuming this is true, and using that 8 | δ and u is odd, we have
    b′ ≡ ub ≡ b (mod 8), which completes the proof.
    To prove that b ≡ 0 (mod 4), note that a2 + b2 = N (β) is a value properly represented by fC (x, y). If
    b ̸≡ 0 (mod 4), then a2 + b2 ≡ 5 (mod 8), hence fC (x, y) − n properly represents a number that is 5 − 0 ≡ 5
    (mod 8), i.e. A contains a curvature of this form. However, we are in a packing of type either (6, 1) or (6, 17),
    where all odd curvatures are 1 (mod 8), contradiction. □
    19
    5.3. Propagation of χ4 . Assume A is a primitive Apollonian circle packing of type (6, 1) or (6, 17). In
    order to relate the χ4 value of tangent circles, we need a value of β that works for both.

    Proposition 5.8. Let C1 and C2 be tangent circles of non-zero coprime curvatures n1 , n2 in A. Then there
    exists a β ∈ Z[i] such that
    • N (β) = n1 + n2 ;
    • β is a valid choice in Definition 5.6 for both C1 and C2 .

    Proof. The β is described by [Sta18b, Proposition 4.6], and is defined up to unit multiple, which allows for
    choosing β to be primary if necessary. That β is in ΛC1 and ΛC2 is a consequence of [Sta18b, Theorem 1.4,
    Theorem 4.7]. That the norm is correct is a consequence of [Sta18b, Theorem 4.7].
    Because this proof depends so heavily on the results from [Sta18b], we will provide an overview of the
    relevant ideas there. The orbit of the extended real line R
    b under the Möbius transformations PSL(2, Z[i])
    includes all primitive integral Apollonian circle packings (scaled by a factor of 1/2); we call this the Schmidt
    arrangement. Thus, given the packing A, we can place it within the extended complex plane C b∼= P1 (C) in a
    canonical way, so that the tangency points of any circle C are given by the projectivization of the Z-span in C2
    of two vectors [α, β], and [γ, δ], corresponding to tangency points α/β and γ/δ. Therefore the denominators
    of the tangency points in the packing form a lattice Λ = βZ + δZ. In [Sta18b], it is shown that these are
    the Λ described in the previous section. In particular, the lattices of tangent circles share a primitive vector
    corresponding to the tangency point. □

    Proposition 5.9. Let C1 and C2 be tangent circles of non-zero coprime curvature in A. Then χ4 (C1 ) =
    χ4 (C2 ).

    Proof. Let n1 and n2 be the curvatures of C1 and C2 respectively. Since we are in type (6, 1) or (6, 17),
    n1 , n2 ≡ 0, 1, or 4 (mod 8). Take a β as promised by Proposition 5.8, and assume that n1 is odd. If n2 is also
    odd, then N (β) = n1 + n2 ≡ 2 (mod 8), hence β = (1 + i)β ′ , with β ′ odd. By replacing β with an associate,
    we can assume that β ′ = a + bi is primary. We compute
        ′   
    β 1+i β n1 −1 n1
    χ4 (C1 ) = = =i 4 .
    n1 n1 n1 β′
    As n1 + n2 = N (β) = ββ, we have n1 ≡ −n2 (mod β ′ ). Thus
          ′
    n1 −1 −n2 n1 −1 −1 n2 n1 −1
    b β
    n1 −1 n2 −1
    χ4 (C1 ) = i 4 =i 4 =i 4 i = i 4 ib i− 4 χ4 (C2 ).
    β′ β′ β′ n2
    n1 −1 n2 −1
    In order to conclude that χ4 (C1 ) = χ4 (C2 ), we must have 4 +b− 4 ≡ 0 (mod 4), i.e.

    (5.2) n1 − n2 + 4b ≡ 0 (mod 16).

    If n1 ≡ n2 (mod 16), then 2(a2 + b2 ) = n1 + n2 ≡ 2 (mod 16), hence a2 + b2 ≡ 1 (mod 8). In particular, 4 | b
    (recall that β ′ is primary), and Equation 5.2 follows. Otherwise, n1 ≡ n2 + 8 (mod 16), so 2(a2 + b2 ) ≡ 10
    (mod 16), and a2 + b2 ≡ 5 (mod 8). This implies that b ≡ 2 (mod 4), and again Equation 5.2 is true.
    If n2 is even, then β = a + bi is primary by assumption. We compute
           
    β n1 −n2 n2 /4
    χ4 (C1 ) = = = = ,
    n1 β β β
    h i h i4
    where the last equality follows from −4 β = 1+i
    β = 1. We now separate into the cases n2 ≡ 0 or 4 (mod 8).
    20
    If n2 ≡ 0 mod 8, write n2 = 2e n′2 with n′2 odd, and
       ′   ′     e −1
    β be/4 ±n2 be/4 ∓1 −n2 be/4 ∓1 2
    χ4 (C2 ) = (−1)be/4 = (−1) = (−1) = (−1) χ4 (C1 ),
    n′2 β β β β β
    ′
    hwhere
    i the sign of the ± depends on n2 modulo 4. As in the proof of Proposition 5.7, we have 4 | b, hence
    −1
    β = ib = 1, so the ± sign does not matter. We also compute
    −1
    2e
      −e
    = i−b/2 = (−1)be/4 = (−1)−be/4 ,
    β

    hence the terms cancel and χ4 (C2 ) = χ4 (C1 ).


    Finally, assume n2 ≡ 4 (mod 8), so n′2 = n2 /4. If n′2 ≡ 1 (mod 4), then
        ′ 
    −1 β n2
    χ4 (C2 ) = = = χ4 (C1 ),
    n′2 n′2 β

    as desired. Otherwise, n′2 ≡ 3 (mod 4) and


        ′  
    −1 β −n2 −1
    χ4 (C2 ) = = − = − χ4 (C1 ) = −i−b χ4 (C1 ).
    n′2 n′2 β β

    Since a2 + b2 = n1 + n2 ≡ 5 (mod 8), we have b ≡ 2 (mod 4), so −ib = 1, completing the proof. □

    Corollary 4.7 and Proposition 5.9 combine to give the following corollary.

    Corollary 5.10. The value of χ4 is constant across all circles in a fixed Apollonian circle packing A of type
    (6, 1) or (6, 17). Denote this value by χ4 (A).

    5.4. Quartic obstructions. Assume that A is a primitive Apollonian circle packing of type (6, 1) or (6, 17).
    As in the quadratic section, χ4 determines the quartic obstructions.

    Proposition 5.11. Then the following quartic obstructions occur, as a function of type and χ4 (A):
    Type χ4 (A) Quartic obstructions
    (6, 1) 1
    −1, i, −i n4 , 4n4 , 9n4 , 36n4
    (6, 17) 1 9n4 , 36n4
    −1 n4 , 4n4
    i, −i n4 , 4n4 , 9n4 , 36n4

    Proof. Let u ∈ {1, 4, 9, 36}, and assume that a circle C of curvature n = uw4 appears in A for some positive
    integer w. The proof works in a “contrapositive” manner: we divide into cases based on n (mod 8), and, for
    each u, restrict the values of χ4 (A) that may permit the curvature n to appear. Let n2 be the curvature of
    a circle C ′ tangent to C that is coprime to n. Let β be chosen as in Proposition 5.8 for the circles C and C ′ .
    If n ≡ 0 (mod 8), then 2 | w, hence n = 2e n′ with n′ odd and 2 | e. Thus
    h i
    β
        1 if u = 1, 4;
    be/4 β
    χ4 (C) = (−1) =
    n′  β 2 if u = 9, 36.
     h i
    3
    21
    h i
    β
    Clearly 1 = 1, which gives the result for u = 1, 4 (specifically, if any curvature of the form n4 or 4n4
    appears, then χ4 (A) = 1). For u = 9, 36, we have n ≡ 0 (mod 24). Let β = a + bi, and as 3 is prime in Z[i],
     2
    β
    ≡ β 4 ≡ (a + bi)4 ≡ a4 + b4 + (a3 b − ab3 )i (mod 3).
    3
    Then a2 + b2 = n + n2 ≡ n2 (mod 3). If the type of A is (6, 1), then a2 + b2 ≡ 1 (mod 3), so exactly one of
    (a, b) is 0 (mod 3). In either case, a4 + b4 + (a3 b − ab3 )i ≡ 1 (mod 3), so χ4 (C) = 1. If the type is (6, 17),
    then a2 + b2 ≡ 2 (mod 3), so a2 ≡ b2 ≡ 1 (mod 3). Thus
    2 2
    a4 + b4 + (a3 b − ab3 )i ≡ a2 + b2 + ab(a2 − b2 )i ≡ 2 ≡ −1 (mod 3),

    so χ4 (C) = −1, again agreeing with the table. h i


    Next, assume n ≡ 1 (mod 8). If u = 1, we immediately have χ4 (C) = wβ4 = 1. Otherwise we have u = 9,
    h i h i2
    and in fact n ≡ 9 (mod 24). Then χ4 (C) = 32βw4 = β3 , from whence the analysis proceeds exactly as in
    the case of n ≡ 0 (mod 8).
    Finally, take n ≡ 4 (mod 8), which allows u = 4, 36. If u = 4, then n′ is an odd fourth power, so
    h β i h i2
    β
    χ4 (C) = −1n ′ n ′ = 1. If u = 36, then n ′
    = 9t4
    , so χ4 (C) = 3 , which is again identical to the case of
    n ≡ 0 (mod 8). □

    There is a nice relationship between χ4 (A) and χ2 (A).

    Proposition 5.12. χ4 (A)2 = χ2 (A).

    Proof. Let C be a circle of odd curvature n in A. Choose a circle C ′ tangent to C of coprime curvature
    h i2
    n2 , and choose β as in Proposition 5.8 for circles C and C ′ . Then χ4 (C)2 = nβ . Let ·· also denote the
    
     
    quadratic residue symbol for Z[i], and it follows that χ4 (C)2 = nβ . By [Lem00, Proposition 4.2iii)], we
       
    have nβ = N n(β) , with the second Kronecker symbol taken over Z. Since N (β) = n + n2 , we can take
    ρ(fC ) = n + n2 , proving that χ4 (C)2 = χ2 (C). As χ2 and χ4 are constant across A, the result follows. □

    From this proposition, if χ4 (A) = ±i, then χ2 (A) = −1, implying that there are no squares in the packing.
    Since all quartic obstructions are squares, these cases were already removed, and we get nothing new. This
    is why we only list quartic obstructions for types (6, 1, 1) and (6, 17, 1).

    22
    6. Computations

    Table 1. SA (N ) for small packings: part 1.

    N
    Packing Type Quadratic Quartic N |SA (N )| max(SA (N )) ≈ max(SA (N ))
    (0, 0, 1, 1) (6, 1, 1, 1) 1010 215 1199820 8334.58
    11
    (−12, 16, 49, 49) 10 275276 5542869468 18.04
    12
    (−20, 36, 49, 49) 10 2014815 55912619880 17.89
    4 4 10
    (−8, 12, 25, 25) (6, 1, 1, −1) n , 4n , 10 47070 517280220 19.33
    4 4 11
    (−12, 25, 25, 28) 9n , 36n 10 238268 5919707820 16.89
    11
    (−15, 24, 40, 49) 2 · 10 639149 12692531688 15.75
    2 2 10
    (−15, 28, 33, 40) (6, 1, −1) n , 2n , 10 80472 820523160 12.19
    2 2 11
    (−20, 33, 52, 57) 3n , 6n 10 240230 4127189100 24.23
    11
    (−23, 40, 57, 60) 10 392800 8689511520 11.51
    2 2 10
    (−4, 5, 20, 21) (6, 5, 1) 2n , 3n 10 3659 32084460 311.68
    (−16, 29, 36, 45) 1010 80256 927211800 10.79
    11
    (−19, 36, 44, 45) 10 177902 3603790320 27.75
    2 2 10
    (−3, 5, 8, 8) (6, 5, −1) n , 6n 10 676 3122880 3202.17
    10
    (−12, 21, 29, 32) 10 30347 312225420 32.03
    10
    (−19, 32, 48, 53) 2.5 · 10 168264 2286209460 10.94
    2 2 10
    (−3, 4, 12, 13) (6, 13, 1) 2n , 6n 10 731 7354464 1359.72
    11
    (−12, 21, 28, 37) 10 234386 3470731680 28.81
    10
    (−11, 16, 36, 37) 10 20748 226988340 44.06
    2 2 10
    (−8, 13, 21, 24) (6, 13, −1) n , 3n 10 5273 45348900 220.51
    10
    (−11, 21, 24, 28) 10 21003 176441136 56.68
    11
    (−20, 37, 45, 52) 10 229356 4079861484 24.51
    2 2 4 4 10
    (−16, 32, 33, 41) (6, 17, 1, 1) 3n , 6n 9n , 36n 10 81777 841440840 11.88
    (−7, 8, 56, 57) 1010 55057 595231740 16.80
    12
    (−16, 20, 81, 81) 10 1075024 26983035480 37.06
    2 2 4 4 10
    (−4, 8, 9, 9) (6, 17, 1, −1) 3n , 6n n , 4n 10 2057 10742460 930.89
    10
    (−7, 9, 32, 32) 10 34916 367956840 27.18
    11
    (−15, 32, 32, 33) 10 585942 8505627180 11.76
    2 2 10
    (−7, 12, 17, 20) (6, 17, −1) n , 2n 10 3744 17141220 583.39
    10
    (−12, 17, 41, 44) 10 31851 270186456 37.01
    10
    (−15, 24, 41, 44) 10 80106 803343900 12.45

    23
    Table 2. SA (N ) for small packings: part 2.

    N
    Packing Type Quadratic Quartic N |SA (N )| max(SA (N )) ≈ max(SA (N ))
    (−5, 7, 18, 18) (8, 7, 1) 3n2 , 6n2 1010 16417 86709570 115.33
    10
    (−6, 10, 15, 19) 10 24305 133977255 74.64
    10
    (−9, 18, 19, 22) 10 14866 82815750 120.75
    2 10
    (−2, 3, 6, 7) (8, 7, −1) 18n 10 236 429039 23307.90
    10
    (−5, 6, 30, 31) 10 19695 97583070 102.48
    10
    (−14, 27, 31, 34) 2 · 10 99294 1643827935 12.17
    10
    (−1, 2, 2, 3) (8, 11, 1) 10 61 97287 102788.66
    10
    (−9, 14, 26, 27) 10 17949 85926675 116.38
    10
    (−10, 18, 23, 27) 10 25944 124625694 80.24
    2 2 10
    (−6, 11, 14, 15) (8, 11, −1) 2n , 3n , 10 3381 20149335 496.29
    (−10, 14, 35, 39) 6n2 4 · 1010 256228 2934238515 13.63
    10
    (−13, 23, 30, 38) 10 71341 598107510 16.72

    In order to support Conjecture 1.5, code to compute the missing curvatures and remove the quadratic and
    quartic families was written with a combination of C and PARI/GP [PAR23]. This code (alongside other
    methods to compute with Apollonian circle packings) can be found in the GitHub repository [Ric23a].
    Files containing the sporadic sets for many small root quadruples can be found in the GitHub repository
    [Ric23b]. We summarize the results for the smallest three quadruples (ordered by the sum of the root
    quadruple curvatures) of each type in Tables 1 and 2.
    In every case, the sporadic set appears to thin out in a typical way as the curvature bound increases.
    This is illustrated in Figure 2, showing the decreasing proportion of sporadic curvatures, as curvature size
    increases, for some large sporadic sets. The last column of Table 1 and 2 shows the ratio of the largest
    curvature computed to the last known sporadic curvature. As this ratio increases, we can be increasingly
    confident that we have found the full sporadic set.
    In Figure 3, we compare our predicted values of #SA to the “size” of the packing, and observe an upward
    trend.

    Remark 6.1. There are only 5 pairs of residue class and packing for which it appears that every single
    positive residue in that class appears. They are:
    • (−3, 5, 8, 8) and 5 (mod 24);
    • (−3, 4, 12, 13) and 13 (mod 24);
    • (−1, 2, 2, 3) and 11, 14, 23 (mod 24).
    Near misses are
    • (0, 0, 1, 1) and 1 (mod 24), which only misses the curvature 241 up to 1010 ;
    • (−1, 2, 2, 3) and 2 (mod 24), which only misses the curvature 13154 up to 1010 .

    Remark 6.2. An intrepid observer of the raw sporadic sets may remark that, toward the tail end, the
    sporadic curvatures are disproportionately multiples of 5. In fact, they generally prefer prime divisors which
    are 1 (mod 4). We speculate that this is another local phenomenon: a result of certain symmetries of the
    24
    105

    104

    103

    102

    101

    100
    100 101 102 103 104

    Figure 2. The decay of the sporadic sets for the packings (−15, 17, 128, 128)
    (type (6, 17, 1, 1), red, upper), (−15, 24, 40, 49) (type (6, 1, 1, −1), black, middle) and
    (−21, 30, 71, 74) (type (8, 11, 1), blue, lower). The x-th position on the x-axis represents
    bin Bx = [x · 104 , (x + 1) · 104 ) ∩ Z of size 104 ; we plot y(x) = #(SA (1011 ) ∩ Bx ) on loglog
    axes. Loosely speaking, the resulting plot is a loglog plot of the probability that a curvature
    is sporadic, as curvature size increases.

    distribution of curvatures in the orbit of quadruples modulo p ≡ 1 (mod 4) (similar to [FS11, Figures 3 and
    4]).

    Remark 6.3. One particularly visually appealing way to observe the reciprocity obstructions is to plot the
    successive differences of the exceptional set. Since quadratic and quartic sequences have patternful successive
    differences, even a union of quadratic and quartic sequences reveals a prominent visual pattern once the
    sporadic set begins to thin out. See Figure 4.

    25
    600000

    500000

    400000

    300000

    200000

    100000

    50 100 150

    Figure 3. Scatterplot of |a| + |b| + |c| + |d| on the x-axis vs. #SA (N ) on the y-axis for small
    packings A of root quadruple (a, b, c, d) for which we are fairly confident in our prediction
    for SA (those for which N/ max(SA (N )) ≥ 5). Packings of type (6, k) are in black, and type
    (8, k) are in white. Packings with χ2 (A) = −1 appear as circles, and those with χ2 (A) = 1
    are squares.

    50000

    40000

    30000

    20000

    10000

    2000 4000 6000 8000 10000

    Figure 4. Successive differences of missing curvatures in the packing (−4, 5, 20, 21) of type
    (6,5,1). Around the 5000th missing curvature, the quadratic families 2n2 and 3n2 begin to
    predominate (the sporadic set has 3659 elements < 1010 , and they continue to occur even
    past the region of this graph, but very sparsely.).

    26
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    27
    University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, Colorado, USA
    Email address: summer.haag@colorado.edu
    URL: https://math.colorado.edu/~suha3163/

    University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, Colorado, USA


    Email address: clyde.kertzer@colorado.edu
    URL: https://clyde-kertzer.github.io/

    University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, Colorado, USA


    Email address: james.rickards@colorado.edu
    URL: https://math.colorado.edu/~jari2770/

    University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, Colorado, USA


    Email address: kstange@math.colorado.edu
    URL: https://math.katestange.net/

    28

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