Discrepancy for convex bodies with isolated flat points (Q1998675)

For a convex body \(B\) in \(\mathbb{R}^d\) and a vector \(\mathbf{z} \in \mathbb{R}^d\), the discrepancy, \(D_R(\mathbf{z})\), between the number of integer points inside a dilated and translated copy of \(B\) and its volume is studied. In particular, the authors consider the discrepancy of the integer lattice with respect to the collection of all translated copies of a dilated convex body having a finite number of flat, possibly non-smooth, points in its boundary. Theorem 2.4 provides upper bounds on the \(L_p\)-norm of the discrepancy function for bounded convex bodies with a smooth boundary and everywhere positive Gaussian curvature except for a finite number of isolated points. Theorem 2.5 discusses the special situations when two flat points have opposite normals and when there is a single flat point with normal in a rational direction. Finally, Theorem 2.8 contains results that hold unconditionally for all bounded convex bodies in \(\mathbb{R}^d\). The main results of the paper rely on a careful analysis of the Fourier transform of the characteristic function of the convex body which is presented in Section 3.