Phase diagram and structural diversity of the densest binary sphere packings

The densest binary sphere packings have historically been very difficult to determine. The only rigorously known packings in the α-x plane of sphere radius ratio α and relative concentration x are at the Kepler limit α=1, where packings are monodisperse. Utilizing an implementation of the Torquato-Jiao sphere-packing algorithm S. Torquato and Y. Jiao, Phys. Rev. E 82, 061302 (2010)], we present the most comprehensive determination to date of the phase diagram in (α,x) for the densest binary sphere packings. Unexpectedly, we find many distinct new densest packings.