On the packing densities of superballs and other bodies (Q1177421)

As is well-known, the Minkowski-Hlawka bound on the lattice-packing density for centrally symmetric convex bodies in \({\mathbb{R}}^ d\) plays a central role in the geometry of numbers. The authors improve known estimates on this bound for special centered convex bodies, namely the classical \(\ell_ \sigma\)-ball \[ \{x\in{\mathbb{R}}^ d: | x_ 1|^ \sigma+\ldots+| x_ d|^ \sigma\leq 1\},\qquad \sigma\geq 1, \] sets of the shape \[ \{x\in{\mathbb{R}}^ d: f(x_ 1,\ldots,x_ k)^ \sigma+f(x_{k+1},\dots,x_{2k})^ \sigma+\ldots+f(x_{d-k+1},\ldots,x_ d)^ \sigma\leq 1\},\qquad k\mid d, \] (in which \(f\) is the Minkowskian distance function associated with a \(k\)-dimensional convex body having a midpoint) and, finally, more general sets whose defining inequalities are not necessarily homogeneous.