A thrust to trust minimum thrust

Abstract

We determine the minimum value of thrust for a number of N-particle configurations. For N=5 in three dimensions an exact result is found for the first time. For larger N we obtain numerical results through optimisation. When a definite value cannot be reliably identified, the results are analysed in the context of Extreme Value Theory, using a Maximum Likelihood Estimate and a Bayesian analysis. Results are given for three spatial dimensions, two dimensions, and selected cases in d dimensions.

Better description of proof in Appendix A and of N=5 calculation in Appendix B