An upper bound on the error probability of specific lattices, based on their distance spectrum, is constructed. The derivation is accomplished using a simple alternative to the Minkowski-Hlawka mean-value theorem of the geometry of numbers. In many ways, the new bound greatly resembles the Shulman-Feder bound for linear codes. Based on the new bound, error-exponent and channel-dispersion expressions are derived for specific lattice sequences (of increasing dimension) over the AWGN channel. Measuring a sequence's gap to capacity, using the new asymptotics, is demonstrated. Additional finite dimension results, encountered along the way, are presented.

In 1973, Gallager proved that the random-coding bound is exponentially tight for the random code ensemble at all rates, even below expurgation. This result explained that the random-coding exponent does not achieve the expurgation exponent due to the properties of the random ensemble, irrespective of the utilized bounding technique. It has been conjectured that this same behavior holds true for a random ensemble of linear codes. This conjecture is proved in this paper. In addition, it is shown that this property extends to Poltyrev's random-coding exponent for a random ensemble of lattices.

An upper bound on the error probability of specific lattices, based on their distance spectrum, is constructed. The derivation is accomplished using a simple alternative to the Minkowski-Hlawka mean-value theorem of the geometry of numbers. In many ways, the new bound greatly resembles the Shulman-Feder bound for linear codes. Based on the new bound, an error exponent is derived for specific lattice sequences (of increasing dimension) over the AWGN channel. Measuring the sequence's gap to capacity, using the new exponent, is demonstrated.