In mathematics, especially in

geometry Geometry (; ) is, with arithmetic, one of the oldest branches of mathematics. It is concerned with properties of space such as the distance, shape, size, and relative position of figures. A mathematician who works in the field of geometry is ...

, a double lattice in is a

discrete subgroup In mathematics, a topological group ''G'' is called a discrete group if there is no limit point in it (i.e., for each element in ''G'', there is a neighborhood which only contains that element). Equivalently, the group ''G'' is discrete if and on ...

of the group of Euclidean motions that consists only of

translations Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''transl ...

and

point reflection In geometry, a point reflection (point inversion, central inversion, or inversion through a point) is a type of isometry of Euclidean space. An object that is invariant under a point reflection is said to possess point symmetry; if it is invari ...

s and such that the subgroup of translations is a

lattice Lattice may refer to: Arts and design * Latticework, an ornamental criss-crossed framework, an arrangement of crossing laths or other thin strips of material * Lattice (music), an organized grid model of pitch ratios * Lattice (pastry), an orna ...

. The

orbit In celestial mechanics, an orbit is the curved trajectory of an object such as the trajectory of a planet around a star, or of a natural satellite around a planet, or of an artificial satellite around an object or position in space such as ...

of any point under the action of a double lattice is a union of two

Bravais lattice In geometry and crystallography, a Bravais lattice, named after , is an infinite array of discrete points generated by a set of discrete translation operations described in three dimensional space by : \mathbf = n_1 \mathbf_1 + n_2 \mathbf_2 + n ...

s, related to each other by a point reflection. A double lattice in two dimensions is a p2

wallpaper group A wallpaper is a mathematical object covering a whole Euclidean plane by repeating a motif indefinitely, in manner that certain isometries keep the drawing unchanged. To a given wallpaper there corresponds a group of such congruent transformati ...

. In three dimensions, a double lattice is a

space group In mathematics, physics and chemistry, a space group is the symmetry group of an object in space, usually in three dimensions. The elements of a space group (its symmetry operations) are the rigid transformations of an object that leave it uncha ...

of the type , as denoted by international notation.

Double lattice packing

A packing that can be described as the orbit of a body under the action of a double lattice is called a double lattice packing. In many cases the highest known

packing density A packing density or packing fraction of a packing in some space is the fraction of the space filled by the figures making up the packing. In simplest terms, this is the ratio of the volume of bodies in a space to the volume of the space itself. I ...

for a body is achieved by a double lattice. Examples include the regular pentagon,

heptagon In geometry, a heptagon or septagon is a seven-sided polygon or 7-gon. The heptagon is sometimes referred to as the septagon, using "sept-" (an elision of ''septua-'', a Latin-derived numerical prefix, rather than '' hepta-'', a Greek-derived nu ...

, and

nonagon In geometry, a nonagon () or enneagon () is a nine-sided polygon or 9-gon. The name ''nonagon'' is a prefix hybrid formation, from Latin (''nonus'', "ninth" + ''gonon''), used equivalently, attested already in the 16th century in French ''nonogo ...

and the equilateral

triangular bipyramid In geometry, the triangular bipyramid (or dipyramid) is a type of hexahedron, being the first in the infinite set of face-transitive bipyramids. It is the dual of the triangular prism with 6 isosceles triangle faces. As the name suggests, i ...

. Włodzimierz Kuperberg and

Greg Kuperberg Greg Kuperberg (born July 4, 1967) is a Polish-born American mathematician known for his contributions to geometric topology, quantum algebra, and combinatorics. Kuperberg is a professor of mathematics at the University of California, Davis.Greg ...

showed that all convex planar bodies can pack at a density of at least by using a double lattice. In a preprint released in 2016, Thomas Hales and Wöden Kusner announced a proof that the double lattice packing of the regular pentagon has the optimal density among all packings of regular pentagons in the plane. This packing has been used as a decorative pattern in China since at least 1900, and in this context has been called the "pentagonal ice-ray". , the proof of its optimality has not yet been refereed and published. It has been conjectured that, among all convex shapes, the regular

has the lowest packing density for its optimal double lattice packing, but this remains unproven.

References

{{Reflist Crystallography Lattice points