A stability property of symplectic packing

Abstract.

We prove that for any closed symplectic 4-manifold (M,Ω) with [Ω]∈H ²(M, Q) there exists a number N ₀ such that for every N≥N ₀, (M,Ω) admits full symplectic packing by N equal balls. We also indicate how to compute this N ₀. Our approach is based on Donaldson's symplectic submanifold theorem and on tools from the framework of Taubes theory of Gromov invariants.