Minima of Epstein's zeta function and heights of flat tori (Q2502042)

Let \(L\) be a lattice in \(\mathbb R^n\) and \(\mathbb R^n/L\) the corresponding flat torus of volume 1. \(Y\) be the Gram matrix corresponding to the \(\mathbb Z\)-basis. Then \(Y \in \mathcal{P}_n^0\), the space of positive definite \(n\times n\) matrices of determinant 1. Let \(\mathcal{L}_n^0=\mathcal{P}_n^0/ \text{GL}(n,\mathbb{Z})\). The paper examines the minimum value of the Epstein zeta-function \(E(L,s)\) for \(s >0\) \((s \neq \frac{n}{2})\) fixed and \(L\) varying in \(\mathcal{L}_n^0\). For \(n=4,8\) and 24 and \(s > 0\) the paper proves that \(E(L,s)\) has a strict local minimum at \(L=L_n\) (\(L_n \in \mathcal{L}_n^0\) is a lattice yielding the densest lattice packing of a space) as does \(h(L)\), the height of \(L\). For \(L \in \mathcal{L}_3^0, h(L) \geqslant h(L_3)\) with equality only if \(L=L_3\). For \(n\rightarrow \infty\) and \(L \in \mathcal{L}_n^0\), the paper gives the lower bound for \(h(L)\). The paper also studies the minima of the theta function for \(L\) in the cases \(n=4,8\) and \(24\).