Counterexamples to the Woods conjecture in dimensions \(d \geq 24\) (Q2199516)

The covering radius of a lattice \(L\) is \(\max_{\mathbf y}\in\mathbb R^d\), \(\mathbf x\in L\{\sqrt{\langle\mathbf y-\mathbf x,\mathbf y-\mathbf x \rangle}\}\). Let \(N_d\) be the greatest covering radius over all well-rounded unimodular \(d\) dimensional lattices. \textit{A. C. Woods} [J. Number Theory 4, 157--180 (1972; Zbl 0232.10020)] conjectured that \(N_d\leq\frac{\sqrt{d}}{{2}}\). This conjecture has been proved for \(d \leq 9\) and counterexamples have been found for \(d \geq 30\). The authors give counterexamples to the conjecture for \(d \geq 24\). The cases that remain are \(10 \leq d \leq 23\).