An arithmetic measure of width for convex bodies

Abstract

We introduce the arithmetic width of a convex body, defined as the number of distinct values a linear functional attains on the lattice points within the body. Arithmetic width refines lattice width by detecting gaps in the lattice point distribution and always provides a natural lower bound. We show that for large dilates of a convex body, the attained values form an arithmetic progression with only a bounded number of omissions near the extremes. For rational polytopes, we show that the arithmetic width grows eventually quasilinearly in the dilation parameter, with optimal directions reoccurring periodically. Lastly, we present algorithms to compute the arithmetic width. These results build new connections with discrete geometry, integer programming, and additive combinatorics.