English

A degenerate version of Brion's formula

Combinatorics 2025-12-09 v3

Abstract

Let pV\mathfrak{p} \subset V be a polytope and ξVC\xi \in V_{\mathbb{C}}^*. We obtain an expression for I(p;α):=peα,xdxI(\mathfrak{p}; \alpha) := \int_{\mathfrak{p}} e^{\langle \alpha, x \rangle} dx as a sum of meromorphic functions in αVC\alpha \in V^*_{\mathbb{C}} parametrized by the faces f\mathfrak{f} of p\mathfrak{p} on which ξ,x\langle \xi, x \rangle is constant. Each term only depends on the local geometry of p\mathfrak{p} near f\mathfrak{f} (and on ξ\xi) and is holomorphic at α=ξ\alpha = \xi. When ξ,\langle \xi, \cdot \rangle is only constant on the vertices of p\mathfrak{p} our formula reduces to Brion's formula. Suppose p\mathfrak{p} is a rational polytope with respect to a lattice Λ\Lambda. We obtain an expression for S(p;α):=λpΛeα,λS(\mathfrak{p}; \alpha) := \sum_{\lambda \in \mathfrak{p} \cap \Lambda} e^{\langle \alpha, \lambda \rangle} as a sum of meromorphic functions parametrized by the faces f\mathfrak{f} on which eξ,x=1e^{\langle \xi, x \rangle} = 1 on a finite index sublattice of lin(f)Λ\text{lin}(\mathfrak{f}) \cap \Lambda. Each term only depends on the local geometry of p\mathfrak{p} near f\mathfrak{f} (and on ξ\xi and Λ\Lambda) and is holomorphic at α=ξ\alpha = \xi. When eξ,1e^{\langle \xi, \cdot \rangle} \neq 1 at any non-zero lattice point on a line through the origin parallel to an edge of p\mathfrak{p}, our formula reduces to Brion's formula, and when ξ=0\xi = 0, it reduces to the Ehrhart quasi-polynomial. Our formulas are particularly useful for understanding how I(p(h);ξ)I(\mathfrak{p}(h); \xi) and S(p(h);ξ)S(\mathfrak{p}(h); \xi) vary in a family of polytopes p(h)\mathfrak{p}(h) with the same normal fan. When considering dilates of a fixed polytope, our formulas may be viewed as polytopal analogues of Laplace's method and the method of stationary phase. Such expressions naturally show up in analysis on symmetric spaces and affine buildings.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2409.09544,
  title  = {A degenerate version of Brion's formula},
  author = {Carsten Peterson},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2409.09544},
  year   = {2025}
}

Comments

52 pages; greatly improved exposition and clarified notation; to appear in Advances in Mathematics