12, 24 and beyond (Q2404643)

A polytope \(P \subset \mathbb R^d\) is \textit{reflexive} if both \(P\) and its dual \(P^*\) are \textit{lattice polytopes}, i.e., their vertices are in \(\mathbb Z^d\). Let \(l(e)\) denote the \textit{lattice length} of the edge \(e\) of \(P\), i.e., the number of integer lattice points on \(e\) minus 1. The numbers 12 and 24 in the title of the paper stem from the curious facts that for a reflexive 2-polytope \(P\), the sum of the edge lengths of \(P\) and \(P^*\) equals 12, and for a reflexive 3-polytope \(P\), the sum of \(l(e) \, l(e^*)\) equals 24; here \(e^*\) denotes the edge of \(P^*\) that is dual to \(e\) [\textit{V. V. Batyrev} and \textit{D. I. Dais}, Topology 35, No. 4, 901--929 (1996; Zbl 0864.14022)]. The paper under review generalizes this result to any smooth reflexive polytope. (A lattice \(d\)-polytope is \textit{smooth} if the primitive edge direction at any vertex form a basis of \(\mathbb Z^d\).) More precisely, the paper proves that the sum of the edge lengths of a smooth reflexive \(d\)-polytope \(P\) equals \(12 f_2 + (5-3d) f_1\), where \(f_1\) and \(f_2\) are the numbers of edges and 2-faces of \(P\), respectively. The authors give two proofs of this result, one purely combinatorial and the other using symplectic toric geometry. The latter proof applies to a wider category of objects, which the authors call \textit{GKM graphs} and which are associated with certain monotone symplectic manifolds.