Convex normality of rational polytopes with long edges

We introduce the property of convex normality of rational polytopes and give a dimensionally uniform lower bound for the edge lattice lengths, guaranteeing the property. As an application, we show that if every edge of a lattice d-polytope P has lattice length at least 4d(d+1) then P is normal. This answers in the positive a question raised in 2007. If P is a lattice simplex whose edges have lattice lengths at least d(d+1) then P is even covered by lattice parallelepipeds. For the approach developed here, it is necessary to involve rational polytopes even for applications to lattice polytopes.Comment: 16 pages, final version, to appear in Advances in Mathematic

The Steinberg group of a monoid ring, nilpotence, and algorithms

For a regular ring R and an affine monoid M the homotheties of M act nilpotently on the Milnor unstable groups of R[M]. This strengthens the K_2 part of the main result of [G5] in two ways: the coefficient field of characteristic 0 is extended to any regular ring and the stable K_2-group is substituted by the unstable ones. The proof is based on a polyhedral/combinatorial techniques, computations in Steinberg groups, and a substantially corrected version of an old result on elementary matrices by Mushkudiani [Mu]. A similar stronger nilpotence result for K_1 and algorithmic consequences for factorization of high Frobenius powers of invertible matrices are also derived.Comment: final version, to appear in Journal of Algebr

Polytopal linear algebra

We investigate similarities between the category of vector spaces and that of polytopal algebras, containing the former as a full subcategory. In Section 2 we introduce the notion of a polytopal Picard group and show that it is trivial for fields. The coincidence of this group with the ordinary Picard group for general rings remains an open question. In Section 3 we survey some of the previous results on the automorphism groups and retractions. These results support a general conjecture proposed in Section 4 about the nature of arbitrary homomorphisms of polytopal algebras. Thereafter a further confirmation of this conjecture is presented by homomorphisms defined on Veronese singularities. This is a continuation of the project started in our papers "Polytopal linear groups" (J. Algebra 218 (1999), 715--737), "Polytopal linear retractions" preprint, math.AG/0001049) and "Polyhedral algebras, arrangements of toric varieties, and their groups" (preprint, http://www.mathematik.uni-osnabrueck.de/K-theory/0232/index.html). The higher $K$-theoretic aspects of polytopal linear objects will be treated in "Polyhedral $K$-theory" (in preparation).Comment: 21 pages, uses pstricks and P. Taylor's CD package. Beitr. Algebra Geom., to appea