Symmetric squares, spherical designs, and lattice minima. Appendix: Two-designs and code minima by Christine Bachoc and Pham Huu Tiep (Q5938606)

A lattice yields a \(t\)-design if the set of its (rescaled) minimum vectors is a spherical \(t\)-design. The authors determine a character-theoretic condition to determine whether a lattice \(\Lambda\subset\mathbb{R}^n\) yields a \(t\)-design and if it is extreme (with \(\min(\Lambda)\geq \sqrt{(n+3)/3}\)). This condition is satisfied if \(\text{Sym}^2(\Lambda\otimes \mathbb{R})\) is almost irreducible (i.e. if it is the sum of the trivial module and another nontrivial irreducible module). After a classification of almost irreducible symmetric squares for finite quasi-simple groups, the authors use their methods to establish some improved lower bounds for minima of certain lattices. For example, they show that the Thompson-Smith lattice is extreme with minimum 10 or 12, \(\Lambda_{52}\) is extreme with minimum 6 (verifying a conjecture of Gross), and the Barnes-Wall lattice \(\text{BW}_{2^n}\) of \(\text{rank }2^n\) is extreme with minimum \(\geq \sqrt{(2^n+3)/3}\) (although here the bound is known to be \(2^{\lfloor\frac n2\rfloor}\)). The paper is followed by an appendix that deals with classical \(t\)-designs, in particular 2-designs, and minima of codes.