Calculus of Variations and Geometric Measure Theory

A. Cesaroni - M. Novaga

Local minimality of the truncated octahedron for the isoperimetric problem on parallelohedra

created by novaga on 31 Mar 2026

[BibTeX]

Submitted Paper

Inserted: 31 mar 2026
Last Updated: 31 mar 2026

Year: 2026

ArXiv: 2603.27221 PDF

Abstract:

We investigate the isoperimetric problem for the Voronoi cells of three-dimensional lattices. Using Selling parameters, we derive an explicit closed formula for the scale-invariant isoperimetric quotient $F$ in terms of six non-negative variables. We then analyse the local behaviour of $F$ at the most relevant lattice configurations: we prove that the body-centered cubic lattice (BCC) is a strict local minimiser of $F$ at fixed volume, whereas the face-centered cubic lattice (FCC) and the simple cubic lattice (SC) are not local minimisers. Then, we consider a family of lattices which interpolates between BCC and FCC, showing that BCC is the global minimiser of $F$ restricted to this family.