Ehrhart series and lattice triangulations (Q958233)

Let \(N\) be a lattice and \(\sigma\) a rational polyhedral cone in \(N\otimes_{\mathbb Z} {\mathbb R}\), i.e., the nonnegative span of finitely many lattice vectors. Then the generating function \[ G_\sigma = \sum_{v\in\sigma\cap N}x^v \] is a rational function in the quotient field \({\mathbb Q}(N)\) of the multivariate Laurent polynomial ring \({\mathbb Z}(N)\). The author studies these rational generating functions in terms of simplicial subdivisions of \(\sigma\). If this subdivision is unimodular, the numerator of \(G_\sigma\) is determined by the \(h\)-vector of the subdivision. The author defines a multivariate analogue of the \(h\)-vector, which takes into account local contributions of the links of nonunimodular faces. The main theorem of the paper asserts that this multivariate polynomial forms the numerator of \(G_\sigma\). As an application, the author computes examples of nonunimodal Ehrhart \(h\)-vectors (the numerator of the generating function of an Ehrhart polynomial, which counts lattice points in integer dilates of a lattice polytope) of reflexive polytopes.