Positive semigroups in lattices and totally real number fields

Abstract Let L be a full-rank lattice in ℝd and write L+ for the semigroup of all vectors with nonnegative coordinates in L. We call a basis X for L positive if it is contained in L+. There are infinitely many such bases, and each of them spans a conical semigroup S(X) consisting of all nonnegative integer linear combinations of the vectors of X. Such S(X) is a sub-semigroup of L+, and we investigate the distribution of the gaps of S(X) in L+, i.e. the points in L+ ∖ S(X). We describe some basic properties and counting estimates for these gaps. Our main focus is on the restrictive successive minima of L+ and of L+ ∖ S(X), for which we produce bounds in the spirit of Minkowski’s successive minima theorem and its recent generalizations. We apply these results to obtain analogous bounds for the successive minima with respect to Weil heights of totally positive sub-semigroups of ideals in totally real number fields.