Stable lattices and the diagonal group (Q738797)

Let \( \mathcal{L}_n=\mathrm{SL}_n(\mathbb{R})/\mathrm{SL}_n(\mathbb{Z}) \) be the set of unimodular lattices (ie the lattices with determinant \( \pm 1 \)) in \( \mathbb{R}^{n} \). Recall that a lattice \( L\in \mathcal{L}_n \) is called \textit{well-rounded}, if its shortest nonzero vectors span \( \mathbb{R}^{n} \). Furthermore, a lattice \( L\in \mathcal{L}_n \) is called \textit{stable} if for any subgroup \( \Lambda \subset L \), the covolume of \( \Lambda \) in \( \mathrm{span}(\Lambda) \) is at least \( 1 \). Let \( A \) be the diagonal subgroup \[ A=\left\{ \begin{pmatrix} a_1 & & \\ & \ddots & \\ & & a_n \end{pmatrix} \in \mathrm{SL}_n(\mathbb{R}) \;| \;a_1, \ldots, a_n>0 \right\}. \] Using the results of \textit{C. T. McMullen} [J. Amer. Math. Soc. 18, 711--734 (2005; Zbl 1132.11034)], the authors prove that for any lattice \( L\in \mathcal{L}_n \) the orbit closure \( \overline{A\cdot L} \) contains a stable lattice. The Mordell constant of \( L\in \mathcal{L}_n \) is defined to be \[ \kappa(L) = 2^{-n} \cdot \sup_{\mathcal{B}} \mathrm{vol}(\mathcal{B}), \] where the supremum is taken over all symmetric boxes \( \mathcal{B}=[-b_1, b_1] \times \cdots \times [-b_n,b_n] \subset \mathbb{R}^{n}\) containing no nonzero points of \( L \) in its interior, and \( \mathrm{vol}(\mathcal{B}) \) denotes the volume of \( \mathcal{B} \). Let \( \kappa_n = \inf \{ \kappa(L) \;| \;L\in \mathcal{L}_n \} \). As a first application of the main theorem, the authors prove \textit{G. Ramharter}'s conjecture [Acta Math. Hungar. 88, 331--340 (2000; Zbl 0960.11035)] that \( \kappa_n \geqslant n^{-n/2} \) for all \( n\geqslant 2 \). In addition, it is proved in this paper, that if all stable lattices \( L\in \mathcal{L}_n \) satisfy \[ \max_{u\in \mathbb{R}^{n}} \min_{v\in L} \| u-v \| \leqslant \sqrt{n}/2 \] (here \( \|\cdot \| \) denotes the Euclidean norm on \( \mathbb{R}^{n} \)), then the Minkowski's conjecture is true in dimension \( n \). (Minkowski's conjecture: for any unimodular lattice \( L\in \mathcal{L}_n \) one has \[ \sup_{u\in \mathbb{R}^{n}} \inf_{v\in L} |N(u-v)| \leqslant 2^{-n}, \quad N(u_1, \ldots, u_n) = u_1\cdots u_n.) \]