08-20
Perfect, strongly eutactic lattices are periodic extreme
Preprint series: 08-20, Preprints
- MSC:
- 11H55 Quadratic forms (reduction theory, extreme forms, etc.)
- 52C17 Packing and covering in $n$ dimensions, See also {05B40, 11H31}
Abstract: We introduce a parameter space for periodic point sets, given as a union of $m$~translates of a point lattice. In it we investigate the behavior of the sphere packing density function and derive sufficient conditions for local optimality. Using these criteria we prove that perfect, strongly eutactic lattices cannot be locally improved to yield a periodic sphere packing with greater density. This applies in particular to the densest known lattice sphere packings in dimension $d\leq 8$ and $d=24$.
Keywords: sphere packing, root lattice, Leech lattice, periodic point set, positive definite quadratic form, Voronoi\'s characterization, perfect lattice, strongly eutactic lattice
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