Multiples of lattice polytopes without interior lattice points

Victor Batyrev, Benjamin Nill

Published 2006-02-15, updated 2006-06-01Version 3

Let $\Delta$ be an $n$-dimensional lattice polytope. The smallest non-negative integer $i$ such that $k \Delta$ contains no interior lattice points for $1 \leq k \leq n - i$ we call the degree of $\Delta$. We consider lattice polytopes of fixed degree $d$ and arbitrary dimension $n$. Our main result is a complete classification of $n$-dimensional lattice polytopes of degree $d=1$. This is a generalization of the classification of lattice polygons $(n=2)$ without interior lattice points due to Arkinstall, Khovanskii, Koelman and Schicho. Our classification shows that the secondary polytope of a lattice polytope of degree 1 is always a simple polytope.