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An improved upper bound for the size of the sphere of influence graph

Let $V$ be a set of $n$ points in the plane. For each $x\in V$, let $B_x$ be the closed circular disk centered at $x$ with radius equal to the distance from $x$ to its closest neighbor. The {\it closed sphere of influence graph} on $V$ is defined as the undirected graph where $x$ and $y$ are adjacent if and only if the $B_x$ and $B_y$ have nonempty intersection. It is known that every $n$-vertex closed sphere of influence graph has at most $cn$ edges, for some absolute positive constant $c$. The first result was obtained in 1985 by Avis and Horton who provided the value $c=29$. Their result was successively improved by several authors: Bateman and Erdős (c=18), Michael and Quint (c=17.5), and Soss (c=15). In this paper we prove that one can take $c=14.5$.