Covering minima and lattice-point-free convex bodies (Q1112339)

The authors study properties of convex bodies which play an essential role in geometry of numbers, as e.g. successive minima and the covering radius. The covering radius is the least factor by which a convex body has to be blown up so that its translates by lattice vectors (of a given lattice) cover the whole space. The ``covering minima'' are generalizations of the covering radius closely related to the successive minima and introduced by the authors to obtain various remarkable results on convex bodies and lattice points. The authors make use of the important theorem on the product of the volumes of a convex body and its polar body by Bourgain and Milman. In particular the authors are interested in properties of lattice-point-free convex bodies in connection with integer programming.