Open problems on Steiner trees and maximal distance minimizers

Abstract: In this work, I collect and discuss a series of open questions in one-dimensional geometric optimization in Euclidean spaces. The focus is on two classes of problems: maximal distance minimizers and Steiner trees. Maximal distance minimizers concern finding a connected set of minimal length whose closed $r$-neighborhood covers a given compact set, whereas Steiner trees aim to find a minimal-length set connecting a prescribed set of points. For both problems, I briefly summarize known results and highlight the remaining open questions. While some questions can be approached with elementary methods, others remain highly challenging.