• 1 Department of Pure and Applied Mathematics

Let $δ (\mathcal{P} )=(δ _0,δ _1,\ldots,δ _d)$ be the $δ$ -vector of an integral convex polytope $\mathcal{P}$ of dimension $d$. First, by using two well-known inequalities on $δ$ -vectors, we classify the possible $δ$ -vectors with $\sum_{i=0}^d δ _i ≤3$. Moreover, by means of Hermite normal forms of square matrices, we also classify the possible $δ$ -vectors with $\sum_{i=0}^d δ _i = 4$. In addition, for $\sum_{i=0}^d δ _i ≥5$, we characterize the $δ$ -vectors of integral simplices when $\sum_{i=0}^d δ _i$ is prime.