Counting Lattice Points in Minkowski Sums of Cross Polytopes

Abstract

Motivated by Postnikov's study of lattice-point enumeration in Minkowski sums of simplices, we investigate lattice points in Minkowski sums of cross polytopes and establish analogous results, together with several related consequences. In particular, we introduce the support-enumerator associated with Postnikov's notion of draconian sequences and show that it coincides with the $h^*$-polynomial of the corresponding root polytope. This provides a new interpretation of the $h^*$-polynomial and yields a simple method for computing the volume of the corresponding polytope. By exploiting the symmetry of these root polytopes, we further establish a duality property for support-enumerators, which in turn provides a proof of a conjecture by Athanasiadis and Chapoton concerning the $h$-polynomials of preorders. Consequently, we obtain a formula for the number of lattice points in Minkowski sums of cross polytopes in terms of draconian sequences and show that these polytopes are Ehrhart positive. Furthermore, this formula leads to analogous expressions for the number of lattice points on their boundaries and for their surface volumes.