Many specific problems ranging from theoretical probability to applications in statistical physics, combinatorial optimization and communications can be formulated as an optimal tuning of local parameters in large systems of interacting particles. Using the framework of stationary point processes in the Euclidean space, we pose it as a problem of an optimal stationary marking of a given stationary point process. The quality of a given marking is evaluated in terms of scores calculated in a covariant manner for all points as a function of the proposed marked configuration. In the absence of a total order of the configurations of scores, we identify intensity-optimality and local optimality as two natural ways for defining optimal stationary marking. We derive tightness and integrability conditions under which intensity-optimal markings exist and further stabilization conditions making them equivalent to locally optimal ones. We present examples motivating the proposed, general framework. Finally, we discuss various possible approaches leading to uniqueness results.
