On Smooth Lattice Polytopes with Small Degree

Toric geometry provides a bridge between the theory of polytopes and algebraic geometry: one can associate to each lattice polytope a polarized toric variety. In this article, we explore this correspondence to classify smooth lattice polytopes having small degree, extending a classification provided by Dickenstein, Di Rocco, and Piene. We follow their approach of interpreting the degree of a polytope as a geometric invariant of the corresponding polarized variety, and then apply techniques from Adjunction Theory and Mori Theory.