534 research outputs found

    Local Covering Optimality of Lattices: Leech Lattice versus Root Lattice E8

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    We show that the Leech lattice gives a sphere covering which is locally least dense among lattice coverings. We show that a similar result is false for the root lattice E8. For this we construct a less dense covering lattice whose Delone subdivision has a common refinement with the Delone subdivision of E8. The new lattice yields a sphere covering which is more than 12% less dense than the formerly best known given by the lattice A8*. Currently, the Leech lattice is the first and only known example of a locally optimal lattice covering having a non-simplicial Delone subdivision. We hereby in particular answer a question of Dickson posed in 1968. By showing that the Leech lattice is rigid our answer is even strongest possible in a sense.Comment: 13 pages; (v2) major revision: proof of rigidity corrected, full discussion of E8-case included, src of (v3) contains MAGMA program, (v4) some correction

    Inhomogeneous extreme forms

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    G.F. Voronoi (1868-1908) wrote two memoirs in which he describes two reduction theories for lattices, well-suited for sphere packing and covering problems. In his first memoir a characterization of locally most economic packings is given, but a corresponding result for coverings has been missing. In this paper we bridge the two classical memoirs. By looking at the covering problem from a different perspective, we discover the missing analogue. Instead of trying to find lattices giving economical coverings we consider lattices giving, at least locally, very uneconomical ones. We classify local covering maxima up to dimension 6 and prove their existence in all dimensions beyond. New phenomena arise: Many highly symmetric lattices turn out to give uneconomical coverings; the covering density function is not a topological Morse function. Both phenomena are in sharp contrast to the packing problem.Comment: 22 pages, revision based on suggestions by referee, accepted in Annales de l'Institut Fourie

    Three ways to look at mutually unbiased bases

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    This is a review of the problem of Mutually Unbiased Bases in finite dimensional Hilbert spaces, real and complex. Also a geometric measure of "mubness" is introduced, and applied to some recent calculations in six dimensions (partly done by Bjorck and by Grassl). Although this does not yet solve any problem, some appealing structures emerge.Comment: 18 pages. Talk at the Vaxjo Conference on Foundations of Probability and Physics, June 200

    Minkowski Tensors of Anisotropic Spatial Structure

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    This article describes the theoretical foundation of and explicit algorithms for a novel approach to morphology and anisotropy analysis of complex spatial structure using tensor-valued Minkowski functionals, the so-called Minkowski tensors. Minkowski tensors are generalisations of the well-known scalar Minkowski functionals and are explicitly sensitive to anisotropic aspects of morphology, relevant for example for elastic moduli or permeability of microstructured materials. Here we derive explicit linear-time algorithms to compute these tensorial measures for three-dimensional shapes. These apply to representations of any object that can be represented by a triangulation of its bounding surface; their application is illustrated for the polyhedral Voronoi cellular complexes of jammed sphere configurations, and for triangulations of a biopolymer fibre network obtained by confocal microscopy. The article further bridges the substantial notational and conceptual gap between the different but equivalent approaches to scalar or tensorial Minkowski functionals in mathematics and in physics, hence making the mathematical measure theoretic method more readily accessible for future application in the physical sciences

    50 Years of the Golomb--Welch Conjecture

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    Since 1968, when the Golomb--Welch conjecture was raised, it has become the main motive power behind the progress in the area of the perfect Lee codes. Although there is a vast literature on the topic and it is widely believed to be true, this conjecture is far from being solved. In this paper, we provide a survey of papers on the Golomb--Welch conjecture. Further, new results on Golomb--Welch conjecture dealing with perfect Lee codes of large radii are presented. Algebraic ways of tackling the conjecture in the future are discussed as well. Finally, a brief survey of research inspired by the conjecture is given.Comment: 28 pages, 2 figure

    On contact numbers of totally separable unit sphere packings

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    Contact numbers are natural extensions of kissing numbers. In this paper we give estimates for the number of contacts in a totally separable packing of n unit balls in Euclidean d-space for all n>1 and d>1.Comment: 11 page
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