The lattice covering density of the regular octahedron

Abstract

We prove that the lattice covering density of the regular octahedron is $9/8$, establishing the optimality of the classical body-centered cubic covering. A hypothetical lattice covering of smaller density would yield a lattice basis whose six Kuhn tetrahedra each fit in a translate of the octahedron. A sharp determinant bound then gives a contradiction. As a consequence, the maximum order of an undirected Abelian Cayley graph with three generators and their inverses and diameter at most $k$ is $\frac{32}{27}{k}^3+O(k^2)$ as $k\to \infty$.

arXiv comment34 pages, 4 figures