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Another transference theorem of the geometry of numbers

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 October 2008

B. J. Birch
Affiliation:
Trinity CollegeCambridge

Extract

In a recent note (1) I sharpened existing theorems, which state, roughly speaking, that unless a symmetric convex body K has an excessively small homogeneous minimum, it must have a reasonably small inhomogeneous minimum; in other words, if the translates of K centred at points of the integer lattice form an efficient packing, then by expanding them we may derive an efficient covering. In this note I will prove the converse, that a bad packing leads to a bad covering; the result is a much less useful one, as the worst case occurs when we foolishly try to pack rather spiky bodies point to point. A result of this kind has previously been proved by Mahler (4), but his result is less precise from our present point of view; a full account is given by Cassels(3).

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge Philosophical Society 1957

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References

REFERENCES

(1)Birch, B. J.A transference theorem of the geometry of numbers. J. Lond. Math. Soc. 31 (1956), 248–51.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(2)Bonnesen, T. and Fenchel, W.Theorie der konvexe Körper (Berlin, 1934).Google Scholar
(3)Cassels, J. W. S.An Introduction to Diophantine Approximation (Cambridge, 1957).Google Scholar
(4)Mahler, K.Übertragungsprinzip für konvexe Körper. Ĉas. Pêst. Mat. 68 (1939), 93102.Google Scholar