Three’s company in six dimensions: Irreducible, isospectral, non-isometric flat tori

In 1964, John Milnor, using a construction of two lattices by Witt, produced the first example of two flat tori that are not globally isometric and whose Laplacians for exterior forms have the same sequence of eigenvalues. The aforementioned flat tori are sixteen-dimensional. One is reducible while the second is irreducible. In the ensuing years, pairs of non-isometric flat tori that share a common Laplace spectrum have been shown to exist in dimensions four and higher. In dimensions three and lower, Alexander Schiemann proved in 1994 that any flat tori that are isospectral are in fact isometric, so four is the lowest dimension in which such pairs exist. Using a four-dimensional such pair, one can easily construct an eight-dimensional such triplet. However, triplets of mutually non-isometric flat tori that share a common Laplace spectrum in dimensions 4, 5, 6, and 7 have eluded researchers - until now. We present here the first example.

Authors

Publication Details

Journal
Proceedings of the American Mathematical Society
Published
2026-01-14
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1090/proc/17579
Primary Topic
Geometric Analysis and Curvature Flows
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00
Controls
|||
ALL TIME
JAN
FEB
MAR
APR
MAY
JUN
JUL
AUG
SEP
OCT
article

Three’s company in six dimensions: Irreducible, isospectral, non-isometric flat tori

Felix Rydell, Gustav Mårdby, Julie Rowlett
Proceedings of the American Mathematical Society
Geometric Analysis and Curvature Flows
article

Three’s company in six dimensions: Irreducible, isospectral, non-isometric flat tori

Felix Rydell, Gustav Mårdby, Julie Rowlett
article en

Abstract

In 1964, John Milnor, using a construction of two lattices by Witt, produced the first example of two flat tori that are not globally isometric and whose Laplacians for exterior forms have the same sequence of eigenvalues. The aforementioned flat tori are sixteen-dimensional. One is reducible while the second is irreducible. In the ensuing years, pairs of non-isometric flat tori that share a common Laplace spectrum have been shown to exist in dimensions four and higher. In dimensions three and lower, Alexander Schiemann proved in 1994 that any flat tori that are isospectral are in fact isometric, so four is the lowest dimension in which such pairs exist. Using a four-dimensional such pair, one can easily construct an eight-dimensional such triplet. However, triplets of mutually non-isometric flat tori that share a common Laplace spectrum in dimensions 4, 5, 6, and 7 have eluded researchers - until now. We present here the first example.

Proceedings of the American Mathematical Society
Openalex Percentile: Top 87%
Geometric Analysis and Curvature Flows
AI Navigator

Ask Laika to Summarize, Analyze, and Connect papers live on the map.

Summarize Papers & Methodologies

Extract key findings, datasets, and comparative methods across publications.

Benchmark Rankings & Visual Analytics

Rank top research institutions, authors, funders, topics, and journals by Field-Weighted Citation Impact (FWCI) and paper volume with instant charts.

Connect Distant Disciplines

Bridge topological clusters on the map to find hidden collaborative intersections.

Three’s company in six dimensions: Irreducible, isospectral, non-isometric flat tori — Felix Rydell, Gustav Mårdby, et al. · Proceedings of the American Mathematical Society (2026) | TGRS Research Map | TGRS