Extremal lattices (Q4247787)

In the 1970's methods from the invariant theory of finite groups and the theory of elliptic modular forms were found to be very useful for the study of the minimal norm in self-dual codes and lattices. In this connection Mallows, Odlyzko and Sloane introduced a notion of extremality which has come in wide use. During the last decade this notion was generalized to certain other types of integral lattices similar to their duals. The paper under review is a carefully written report on what is known (until 1998) about such extremal lattices. For minimal norms at most 8 it gives a detailed overview on their existence and uniqueness. Moreover, in all cases of level \(> 1\) in which the reviewer had introduced the notion of extremality, the authors have explicitly calculated Fourier coefficients of extremal modular forms of high weights, with the result that eventually negative coefficients appear and then extremal lattices no longer exist. This is remarkable inasmuch as, according to recent calculations elsewhere, the classical case of even self-dual lattices seems to be open again. For the entire collection see [Zbl 0903.00035].