Index of lattices and Hilbert polynomials (Q881100)

Denote by \(h\) the absolute logarithmic height and by \(H(\Lambda; X_{1},\ldots,X_{n})\) the Hilbert polynomial of a lattice \(\Lambda\subset \mathbb{R}^{n}\). Let \(\mathbf{K}\) be a number field, \(d\) its degree, \(w_{\mathbf{K}}\) the order of the torsion group of \(\mathbf{K}^{\times}\), \(\alpha_{1},\ldots,\alpha_{n}\) elements in \(\mathbf{K}^{\times}\). Denote by \(U\) be the subspace of \(\mathbb{R}^{n}\) generated by the \(n\)-tuples \((m_{1},\ldots,m_{n})\) in \(\mathbb{Z}^{n}\) such that \(\alpha_{1}^{m_{1}}\cdots \alpha_{n}^{m_{n}} \) is a root of unity and by \(\Upsilon\) the lattice which consists of those \((r_{1},\ldots,r_{n})\) in \(\mathbb{Q}^{n}\) such that there exist a root of unity \(\zeta\) and an element \(\alpha\) in \(\mathbf{K}\) for which \(\alpha_{1}^{r_{1}}\cdots \alpha_{n}^{r_{n}}=\zeta\alpha\). Finally, let \(V\) be a subspace of \(\mathbb{R}^{n}\) such that \(V\cap U=\{0\}\). Then the index \(\varrho\) of \(\mathbb{Z}^{n}\cap V\) in \(\Upsilon\cap V\) is bounded by \[ \varrho\leq \frac{c(d)}{w_{\mathbf{K}}} \cdot \frac{e^{r} (n!)^{r/n}}{r^{r}} \cdot H\bigl( (\mathbb{Z}^{n}\cap V)^{\perp}\; ; \; h(\alpha_{1}),\dots, h(\alpha_{n})\bigr), \] where \(c(1)=17\) and \(c(d)=68\cdot d^{r+1} (\log d)\) for \(d\geq 2\). This generalizes and improves earlier results by E. M. Matveev, T.~Loher and D. W.~Masser. The proof rests on geometry of numbers and uses a lower bound for the volume of the intersection of the unit ball with a linear subspace in \(\mathbb{R}^{n}\). His upper bound for this index is an important tool for the author in his proof of zero lemma and his new estimates for lower bounds for linear combinations of logarithms of algebraic numbers.