A note on unimodular lattices with trivial automorphism groups (Q507505)

In [Mem. Am. Math. Soc. 429, 70 p. (1990; Zbl 0702.11037)], \textit{E. Bannai} proved, using Siegel's mass formula, that there exist an odd unimodular lattice and an even unimodular lattice with trivial automorphism groups provided the dimension \(n \geq 43\) or \(n = 8k \geq 144\), respectively. From the values of the masses of positive definite unimodular lattices given in the book by \textit{J. H. Conway} and \textit{N. J. A. Sloane} [Sphere packings, lattices and groups. With additional contributions by E. Bannai, R. E. Borcherds, J. Leech, S. P. Norton, A. M. Odlyzko, R. A. Parker, L. Queen and B. B. Venkov. 3rd ed. New York, NY: Springer (1999; Zbl 0915.52003)], or by \textit{O. D. King} in [Math. Comput. 72, No. 242, 839--863 (2003; Zbl 1099.11035)], there exist no odd unimodular lattice with \(n < 28\) and even unimodular lattice with \(n <32\) having trivial automorphism groups. In [in: Résaux euclidiens, designs sphériques et formes modulaires. Autour des travaux de Boris Venkov. Genève: L'Enseignement Mathématique. 212--267 (2001; Zbl 1139.11319)] \textit{R. Bacher} and \textit{B. Venkov} proved that there is no unimodular lattice with a trivial automorphism group for \(n= 28\). \textit{Y. Mimura} in [in: Algebra and topology, Proc. 5th Math. Workshop, Taejon/Korea 1990, Proc. KIT Math. Workshop 5, 91--95 (1990; Zbl 0735.11026)] constructed explicit examples of odd unimodular lattices of dimension \(36, 40\) and an even unimodular lattice of dimension \(64\) with trivial automorphism groups by using the neighbor method of Kneser. Using the same method with the aid of computer, \textit{R. Bacher} in [Int. Math. Res. Not. 1994, No. 2, 91--95 (1994; Zbl 0817.11034)] obtained an odd lattice with \(n = 29\) and an even lattice with \(n= 32\) having trivial automorphism groups. \textit{M. Harada} [Discrete Math. 239, No. 1--3, 121--125 (2001; Zbl 0988.94026)] also gave a \(32\)-dimensional odd unimodular lattice with a trivial automorphism group. In this paper, a different effective construction method, has been presented to obtain odd positive definite unimodular lattices of dimensions \(29 \leq n \leq 42\) and even positive definite unimodular lattices of dimensions \(n = 32, 40\) with trivial automorphism groups. Combining these results with Bannai's and Bacher and Venkov's results it is obtained that there exists a unimodular lattice with a trivial automorphism group if and only if the dimension \(n > 28\).