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0 votes
0 answers
111 views

Totally isotropic space for bilinear pairing over ring

A duplicate of this: Consider the following well-known inequality: Let $b$ be a non-degenerate symmetric bilinear pairing over a (finite-dimensional) $\mathbb F$-vector space $V$ and $W$ a totally ...
0 votes
1 answer
213 views

number of representations by sums of three squares (with coefficients)

There are formulas for counting the number of representations of a positive integer $N$ as a sum of three integer squares. What is a reference for $$ \#\{(x,y,z)\in \mathbf{N}^3: 5^4 x^2+y^2+z^2=N\} ?$...
4 votes
1 answer
242 views

Quadratic refinements of a bilinear form on finite abelian groups

$\DeclareMathOperator\Hom{Hom}$Let $A$ be a finite abelian group and $\text{Sym}(A)$ the (abelian) group of symmetric bilinear forms over $A$ valued in $\mathbb{R}/\mathbb{Z}$. A quadratic function on ...
4 votes
0 answers
216 views

Is an orthogonal direct sum decomposition with respect to two quadratic forms necessarily unique up to isomorphism

Consider two quadratic forms $Q$ and $P$ over a finite dimensional vector space $V$ over a quadratically closed (or perhaps Pythagorean) field $F$. If $V$ can be decomposed as $V = V_1 \oplus V_2 \...
4 votes
1 answer
277 views

Is there a good notion of kernels of quadratic forms on abelian groups?

Let $G$ be an abelian group and let $q:G \to \mathbb{Q/Z}$ be a quadratic form, i.e. $q(a)=q(-a)$ and $b(x,y)=q(x+y)-q(x)-q(y)$ is a bihomomorphism. On vector spaces, when people speak about the ...
1 vote
1 answer
97 views

Projectivity of the fundamental ideal of Witt groups

Suppose $k$ is a field. I wonder when the Witt ring of the quadratic forms $\textbf{W}(k)$ has a projective fundamental ideal, which is the kernel of the rank modulo 2 morphism. Here I want a ...
2 votes
1 answer
186 views

$k[X_1,\ldots,X_n]/Q$ is UFD for non-singular quadratic form $Q$ and $n\ge 5$

I am looking for a reference for the following result. Thanks in advance. Let $k$ be a field of any characteristic other than $2$. Klein and Nagata showed that the ring $R:=k[X_1,\ldots,X_n]/Q$ is a ...
2 votes
1 answer
296 views

When are rings of the form $K[x_1,...,x_n]/(Q)$ principal ideal domains when $Q$ is quadratic?

By a result of Klein-Nagata rings of the form $A_Q=K[x_1,...,x_n]/(Q)$ are factorial when $K$ is a field, $n \geq 5$ and $Q$ is a non-degenerate quadratic form. Question 1: When is $A_Q$ a principal ...
3 votes
1 answer
481 views

Under what conditions is the polynomial of degree $6$ irreducible?

Let $k$ be a perfect field of characteristic $p \neq 2,3$ such that $\omega := \sqrt[3]{1} \in k$, where $\omega \neq 1$. Consider an absolutely irreducible (not necessarily homogenous) quadratic ...
2 votes
0 answers
114 views

Existence theorem for symmetric nondegenerate forms over a ring

There exists a rich theory for inner product spaces (i.e. vector spaces with a symmetric nondegenerate bilinear form) over fields, and it can be discussed in the context of local rings and free ...
1 vote
0 answers
28 views

Modified straightline complexity of almost square of sums

Assume every linear operation (such as inner product with constant vector) can be performed in one step and multiplication by variables (quadratic operation) can be performed in one step. We know the ...
0 votes
0 answers
94 views

Tensor product of preordered rings

All rings in this post are commutative, unital, and contain $\frac{1}{2}$. To study "real" properties of a ring $R$, one is often interested in the orderings which exist on fraction fields of ...
1 vote
0 answers
295 views

Proper ideals are invertible

I am reading through Cox's book Primes of the form $x^2+ny^2$ and I am stuck with some proofs in Chapter 7 (I have the 2nd edition). There, the author presents the following Lemma: Lemma 7.5: Let $...
2 votes
0 answers
98 views

Classification of quadratic submodules in $\mathbb C[[t]]$

Let $\mathbb C[[t]]$ be the ring of formal series with complex coefficients. Let $M$ be a finite rank free module over this ring. Let $Q$ be a regular quadratic form on $M$. (E.g., the standard ...
6 votes
2 answers
563 views

If the discriminant of a binary quadratic form has high valuation, is the form "almost a square".

For a binary quadratic form $ax^2+bxy+cy^2$ over a field (characteristic not 2), the discriminant $b^2-4ac$ is 0 if and only if that form is the square of a linear form. I am curious about an ...
3 votes
1 answer
210 views

Pythagorean number in Artin's theorem on nonnegative rational fractions

Emil Artin's theorem on nonnegative rational fractions says that a rational fraction $Q$ with $n$ variables with real coefficients which is non-negative on $\mathbb R^n$ is a sum of squares of ...
4 votes
1 answer
141 views

Which power of $2$ kills $W(k)$?

Is the following fact "well-known": if $-1$ is a sum of squares in a field $k$, then the Witt group $W(k)$ of quadratic forms is killed by multiplication by $2^N$ for some $N\ge 0$? What can one say ...
13 votes
1 answer
990 views

Is -1 a sum of 2 squares in a certain field K?

Consider the field of fractions $K$ of the quotient algebra $\mathbb{R}[x,y,z,t]/(x^2+y^2+z^2+t^2+1)$, where $\mathbb{R}$ is the field of real numbers and $x,y,z,t$ are variables. Clearly $-1$ is a ...
1 vote
1 answer
349 views

Non-representability by a binary quadratic form

Let $k$ be an arbitrary field, $d\in k$, and $d$ is not a square in $k$. Consider the binary quadratic form $f(x,y)=x^2-d y^2$ (it is the norm from $k(\sqrt{d})$ to $k$). I am looking for a reference ...