The Norm Spectrum of Barnes-Wall Lattices Below Twice the Minimum

Abstract

Let $Λ_m$ be the Barnes-Wall lattice of dimension $2^m$, normalized to have minimum squared norm $d_m:=2^{m-1}$. We determine its complete norm spectrum strictly between $d_m$ and $2d_m$, proving that, for every integer $m\ge1$, $\{\|x\|^2:x\inΛ_m,\ d_m<\|x\|^2<2d_m\}=\{2d_m-2^j:j\in\mathbb Z,\ \lceil m/2\rceil\le j\le m-2\}$. In particular, the norm spectrum in this interval is nonempty for $m\ge4$. The proof uses a Gaussian-integer model in which lattice automorphisms arising from Clifford unitaries transform a vector into a pair of coordinate subvectors in a lower-dimensional lattice. Divisibility of the differences of their squared norms and a matrix Parseval identity provide the arithmetic and averaging constraints needed for induction on $m$. Every listed norm is realized explicitly by a sum of two minimal vectors of the lattice.