The Conway-Sloane calculus for 2-adic lattices (Q2032785)

It is known that the system of invariants for working with quadratic forms over \( p \)-adic integers is simpler if \( p \) is an odd prime than that of the case \( p=2 \). \textit{J. H. Conway} and \textit{N. J. A. Sloane} introduced the system of invariants (see chapter 15 in [Sphere packings, lattices and groups. New York, NY: Springer (1999; Zbl 0915.52003)]), which bases also on the \( 2 \)-adic Jordan decomposition, but it is simpler than the earlier ones (cf. [\textit{G. Pall}, Bull. Am. Math. Soc. 51, 185--197 (1945; Zbl 0060.11005); \textit{B. W. Jones}, Duke Math. J. 11, 715--727 (1944; Zbl 0060.11006)]). In this introduction many theorems were given without the proofs (probably to simplify the readability of the introduction). In this paper, the Conway-Sloane calculus for quadratic forms over \( 2 \)-adic integers has been explained and all proofs have been provided. Moreover, the authors discussed briefly the classification of the \( 2 \)-adic lattices. This paper is an excellent complement to the introduction given by Conway and Sloane [loc. cit.].