Integer Decomposition Property of Free Sums of Convex Polytopes

Let \({\mathcal{P} \subset \mathbb{R}^{d}}\) and \({\mathcal{Q} \subset \mathbb{R}^{e}}\) be integral convex polytopes of dimension d and e which contain the origin of \({\mathbb{R}^{d}}\) and \({\mathbb{R}^{e}}\), respectively. We say that an integral convex polytope \({\mathcal{P}\subset \mathbb{R}^{d}}\) possesses the integer decomposition property if, for each \({n\geq1}\) and for each \({\gamma \in n\mathcal{P}\cap\mathbb{Z}^{d}}\), there exist \({\gamma^{(1)}, . . . , \gamma^{(n)}}\) belonging to \({\mathcal{P}\cap\mathbb{Z}^{d}}\) such that \({\gamma = \gamma^{(1)} +. . .+\gamma^{(n)}}\). In the present paper, under some assumptions, the necessary and sufficient condition for the free sum of \({\mathcal{P}}\) and \({\mathcal{Q}}\) to possess the integer decomposition property will be presented.