Flat $\delta$-vectors and their Ehrhart polynomials

TL;DR

This paper characterizes flat δ-vectors of integral convex polytopes and demonstrates the existence of polytopes with prescribed Ehrhart polynomial properties, revealing new structural insights into their combinatorial and geometric features.

Contribution

It provides a complete characterization of flat δ-vectors and constructs polytopes with specific Ehrhart polynomial behaviors, advancing understanding of polytope enumeration.

Findings

Complete characterization of flat δ-vectors.

Existence of polytopes with prescribed Ehrhart polynomial values.

Demonstration of diverse Ehrhart polynomial behaviors in fixed dimension.

Abstract

We call the $\delta$-vector of an integral convex polytope of dimension $d$ flat if the $\delta$-vector is of the form $(1,0,\ldots,0,a,\ldots,a,0,\ldots,0)$, where $a \geq 1$. In this paper, we give the complete characterization of possible flat $\delta$-vectors. Moreover, for an integral convex polytope $\mathcal{P} \subset \mathbb{R}^N$ of dimension $d$, we let $i(\mathcal{P},n)=|n\mathcal{P} \cap \mathbb{Z}^N|$ and $\ i^*(\mathcal{P},n)=|n(\mathcal{P} \setminus \partial \mathcal{P}) \cap \mathbb{Z}^N|.$ By this characterization, we show that for any $d \geq 1$ and for any $k,\ell \geq 0$ with $k+\ell \leq d-1$, there exist integral convex polytopes $\mathcal{P}$ and $\mathcal{Q}$ of dimension $d$ such that (i) For $t=1,\ldots,k$, we have $i(\mathcal{P},t)=i(\mathcal{Q},t),$ (ii) For $t=1,\ldots,\ell$, we have $i^*(\mathcal{P},t)=i^*(\mathcal{Q},t)$ and (iii) $i(\mathcal{P},k+1) \neq i(\mathcal{Q},k+1)$ and $i^*(\mathcal{P},\ell+1)\neq i^*(\mathcal{Q},\ell+1).$