Optimal and non-optimal lattices for non-completely monotone interaction potentials

Abstract

We investigate the minimization of the energy per point $E\_f$ among $d$-dimensional Bravais lattices, depending on the choice of pairwise potential equal to a radially symmetric function $f(|x|^2)$. We formulate criteria for minimality and non-minimality of some lattices for $E\_f$ at fixed scale based on the sign of the inverse Laplace transform of $f$ when $f$ is a superposition of exponentials, beyond the class of completely monotone functions. We also construct a family of non-completely monotone functions having the triangular lattice as the unique minimizer of $E\_f$ at any scale. For Lennard-Jones type potentials, we reduce the minimization problem among all Bravais lattices to a minimization over the smaller space of unit-density lattices and we establish a link to the maximum kissing problem. New numerical evidence for the optimality of particular lattices for all the exponents are also given. We finally design one-well potentials $f$ such that the square lattice has lower energy $E\_f$ than the triangular one. Many open questions are also presented.