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Gruber P. Convex and Discrete Geometry

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29 Packing of Balls <strong>and</strong> Positive Quadratic Forms 437<br />

Proposition 29.6. Any two facets of R(m) are equivalent via a transformation of the<br />

form U where the corresponding d × d matrix U is integer <strong>and</strong> unimodular.<br />

Proof. Let F <strong>and</strong> G be facets of R(m). They are determined by two primitive integer<br />

minimum vectors uF, uG ∈ Z d , see the proof of Proposition 29.5. Now take for U<br />

any integer unimodular d × d matrix U with UuF = uG. ⊓⊔<br />

Proposition 29.7. The perfect quadratic forms on E d with arithmetic minimum m<br />

correspond precisely to the vertices of R(m).<br />

Proof. This result is clear. ⊓⊔<br />

Since at least 1 2d(d + 1) facets meet at each vertex of the polyhedron R(m)<br />

in E 1 2 d(d+1) , the following result of Korkin <strong>and</strong> Zolotarev [611] is an immediate<br />

consequence of this proposition:<br />

Theorem 29.8. Each perfect positive definite quadratic form on Ed has at least<br />

1<br />

2d(d + 1) pairs ±u �= o of minimum points. Among the minimum points are d<br />

linearly independent ones.<br />

An extension of this result to lattice packings of an o-symmetric convex body of<br />

locally maximum density is due to Swinnerton-Dyer [978], see Theorem 30.3.<br />

The following property of Ryshkov’s polyhedron is an immediate consequence<br />

of Proposition 29.7 <strong>and</strong> Theorem 29.7.<br />

Proposition 29.8. There are only finitely many vertices of R(m) which are pairwise<br />

non-equivalent via transformations of the form U where U is an integer unimodular<br />

d × d matrix.<br />

The (equi-)discriminant surface D(δ), where δ>0, consists of all (points of P<br />

corresponding to) positive definite quadratic forms on E d with discriminant δ. We<br />

establish the following properties of D(δ).<br />

Proposition 29.9. The following statements hold:<br />

(i) Each ray in P starting at the origin meets D(δ) at precisely one point.<br />

(ii) D(δ) is strictly convex <strong>and</strong> smooth.<br />

The strict convexity of the discriminant surface plays an important role in our<br />

proof of John’s theorem 11.2.<br />

Proof. (i) is trivial.<br />

(ii) We first show the strict convexity: let A, B ∈ D(δ) be such that A �= B. Since<br />

A <strong>and</strong> B are not proportional to each other, Minkowski’s determinant inequality for<br />

symmetric, positive semi-definite matrices then implies that det � (1−λ)A+λB � >δ<br />

for 0

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