On conjectures of Minkowski and Woods for \(n = 9\) (Q345679)

Let \(L_{i} = a_{i1}x_{1} + \dots +a_{in}x_{n} , 1 \leq i \leq n\) be \(n\) real linear forms in \(n\) variables \(x_{1},\dots , x_{n}\) and having determinant \(\Delta = det(a_{ij} ) \neq 0\). The following conjecture is attributed to Minkowski (1901): For any given real numbers \(c_{1}, \dots , c_{n},\) there exists integers \(x_{1},\dots , x_{n}\) such that \(|(L_{1} + c_{1}) \dots (L_{n} + c_{n}) |\leq \frac{1}{2^{n}}|\Delta|\). Equality is necessary if and only if after a suitable unimodular transformation the linear forms \(L_{i}\) have the form \(2c_{i}x_{i}\) for \(1 \leq i \leq n\). Several mathematicians have obtained a variety of proofs, partly in an effort to find a proof which would generalize to higher dimensions. For a detailed history, see [\textit{R. J. Hans-Gill} et al., J. Number Theory 129, No. 5, 1000--1010 (2009; Zbl 1175.11034); ibid. 1011--1033 (2009; Zbl 1175.11033)]. Minkowski's Conjecture has so far been proved for \(n \leq 8\). Let \(\mathbb{R}^{n}\) be the \(n\)-dimensional Euclidean space with \(O\) as the origin. Let \(\Lambda\) be a lattice of of determinant \(1\) such that there is a sphere \(|X| < R\) which contains no point of \(\Lambda\) other than \(O\) and has \(n\) linearly independent points of \(\Lambda\) on its boundary. A well known conjecture in the geometry of numbers asserts that any closed sphere in \(\mathbb{R}^{n}\) of radius \(\sqrt{\frac{n}{4}}\) contains a point of \(\Lambda\). This is known to be true for \(n \leq 8\). Here a more general conjecture of Woods for \(n = 9\) has been proved, from which this conjecture follows in \(\mathbb{R}^{9}\). Together with a result of \textit{C. T. McMullen} [J. Am. Math. Soc. 18, No. 3, 711--734 (2005; Zbl 1132.11034)], the long standing conjecture of Minkowski follows for \(n = 9\). \textit{R. J. Hans-Gill} et al. [Indian J. Pure Appl. Math. 41, No. 4, 595--606 (2010; Zbl 1228.11096); ibid. 42, No. 5, 307--333 (2011; Zbl 1318.11085); Acta Arith. 147, No. 4, 337--385 (2011; Zbl 1233.11078)] had obtained estimates to conjectures of Minkowski and Woods for \(9 \leq n \leq 31\). The authors of this paper [``Refined estimates on conjectures of Woods and Minkowski'', J. Indian Math. Soc. 83, 61--85 (2016)] obtained further improvement to estimates on conjectures of Woods and Minkowski for \(10 \leq n \leq 33\).