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Questions tagged [quadratic-forms]

Algebraic and geometric theory of quadratic forms and symmetric bilinear forms, e.g., values attained by quadratic forms, isotropic subspaces, the Witt ring, invariants of quadratic forms, the discriminant and Clifford algebra of a quadratic form, Pfister forms, automorphisms of quadratic forms.

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Does this variant of a theorem of Hasse (really due to Gauss) have an "elementary" proof?

BACKGROUND Here are 3 theorems of varying difficulty. Let $M$ be the $Z/2$ subspace of $Z/2[[x]]$ spanned by $f^k$, with the $k>0$ and odd, and $f=x+x^9+x^{25}+x^{49}+\cdots$. For $g$ in $M$, let $...
paul Monsky's user avatar
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16 votes
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The number 1680 and Lagrange's four-square theorem

The number $1680$ has the factorization $2^4\times3\times5\times7$. Rather to my surprise, I found that this number has certain mysterious connection with Lagrange's four-square theorem. QUESTION: ...
Zhi-Wei Sun's user avatar
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14 votes
0 answers
476 views

Cohomological interpretations of quadratic form invariants over rings?

The standard approach to classifying of quadratic forms over $\Bbb Q$ is to use the Hasse (local-global) principle together with a system of standard invariants of quadratic forms over the local ...
Jonathan Hanke's user avatar
12 votes
0 answers
767 views

What numbers are integrally represented by $4 x^2 + 2 x y + 7 y^2 - z^3$

This is related to my first MO question and Kevin Buzzard's conjecture at Integers not represented by $ 2 x^2 + x y + 3 y^2 + z^3 - z $ In December 2010 my question appeared in the M.A.A. Monthly, ...
Will Jagy's user avatar
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11 votes
0 answers
158 views

Characterization of certain 4-dimensional lattices

Let $\Lambda \subset {\bf Q}^4$ be a lattice, i.e., $\Lambda$ is a free abelian group and $\Lambda \otimes {\bf Q} = {\bf Q^4}$. The determinants of those dilation-rotations (i.e. linear maps of ${\bf ...
Jens Reinhold's user avatar
10 votes
0 answers
177 views

Matrices whose pairwise products form a basis

Over the vector space of 2x2 matrices, the Pauli matrices $I, X, Y, Z$ form a complete basis. Each of these matrices square to $I$, and with the additional relation that $Z = iXY$, we see that every ...
Alex Meiburg's user avatar
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9 votes
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Leech lattice and rational varieties

Question: Is there a smooth rational variety $X$ of complex dimension $4n$, $n \in \mathbb{N}$; such that the intersection form on $H^{4n}(X,\mathbb{Z})$ is the Leech lattice? My motivation is mainly ...
Nick L's user avatar
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9 votes
0 answers
217 views

Is there any study about positive definiteness of some matrix space whose matrices don't have to be positive-definite?

--Updated description-- I'm trying to investigate the stability of tensegrity structures, and this question is related to the second order test. Suppose there is a vector space $W=\operatorname{span}...
wenru's user avatar
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8 votes
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263 views

Positive integer solutions of $ab+ac+ad+bc+bd+cd=n$

Consider a quadratic form $Q(a,b,c,d)=ab+ac+ad+bc+bd+cd$ on $\mathbb Z^4$. For some reason I am interested in the number of solutions $(a,b,c,d)\in\mathbb Z_{> 0}^4$ of $Q(a,b,c,d)=n$ as a function ...
Nikita Kalinin's user avatar
8 votes
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243 views

Which continuous function is optimal for sieving?

In 1968, Barban and Vehov considered [1] the problem of determining for which continuous functions $\rho:\mathbb{R}^+\to [0,1]$ satisfying certain properties ($\rho(t)=1$ for $t\leq U_0$, $\rho(t)=0$ ...
H A Helfgott's user avatar
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8 votes
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264 views

Number of representations of an integer as the dot product of integer vectors

Let $r_k(n)$ denote the number of solutions in positive integers to the equation: $$n = a_1 b_1 + a_2 b_2 + \ldots + a_k b_k.$$ What estimates and/or asymptotics are available for (1) $...
Mark Lewko's user avatar
8 votes
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roots of quadratic forms

This may be a very silly question, but I was wondering what is known about the roots of a quadratic form over variables $x_1,\ldots,x_n,y_1,\ldots,y_m$ in the finite field $\mathbb{F}_p$. I'm not ...
Sarah's user avatar
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7 votes
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260 views

K3 surfaces with no −2 curves

I seem to remember that a K3 surface with big Picard rank always has smooth rational curves. This question is equivalent to the following question about integral quadratic lattices. Let us call a ...
Misha Verbitsky's user avatar
7 votes
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224 views

the gaps between values of a positive binary quadratic form at integer points

Suppose that $s$ is a positive irrational number. Consider all possible values of the sum $x^2+sy^2$ where $x$ and $y$ are integers. These values form a set $W=\{0=w_1<w_2<\ldots\}$. Can the ...
Krymskii Stanislav's user avatar
7 votes
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Question on some coverings of the euclidean space

Let $L$ be a maximal integral lattice in the euclidean $(\mathbf R^{8m},q)$ (thus the associated bilinear form $b(u,v)=q(u+v)-q(u)-q(v)$, once restricted to $L$, takes values in $2\mathbf Z$ and has ...
few_reps's user avatar
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7 votes
0 answers
191 views

Upper bound on the number of ismorphism classes of bilinear forms on $\mathbb{Z}^n$

$\DeclareMathOperator{\Hom}{Hom}$A symmetric, positive definite bilinear form on $\mathbb{Z}^n$ is any mapping $$b : \mathbb{Z}^n \times \mathbb{Z}^n \to \mathbb{Z}$$ satisfying $b$ is bilinear, $b(x,...
eins6180's user avatar
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7 votes
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674 views

Mock modular forms and (indefinite) quadratic forms

Define the function $$f(q,z,y) = \sum_{n \ge 0,m,l} c(n,m,l) q^n z^m y^l$$ where $c(n,m,l)$ is defined by $$ c(n,m,l) = \begin{cases} (-1)^{s+l} & \text{if } 4n - m^2 + l^2 = 2s(s+1)\\ 0 & \...
Richard Eager's user avatar
7 votes
0 answers
470 views

When is the set of numbers represented by certain quaternary quadratic forms completely multiplicative?

Expired by this question A quadratic form represents all primes except for the primes 2 and 11. I would like to know some simple sufficient conditions for when the set of numbers integrally ...
Will Jagy's user avatar
  • 25.7k
6 votes
0 answers
381 views

A possible variant of Zagier's one-sentence proof for Fermat's sum of two squares theorem?

Is it possible to modify Zagier's one-sentence proof of Fermat's sum of two squares theorem (see here) to prove certain non-trivial cases of Jacobi's four-square theorem (see here)? Let $p$ be a prime ...
Mathew's user avatar
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6 votes
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some problems on sum of two squares

During my experiments with "Mathematica" I arrived to the following observations. My question is that are they interesting, known, solved or not. If they are known could you please give me a reference....
asad's user avatar
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6 votes
0 answers
240 views

Positive-definite lattice with O(n,n) Gram matrix generated by minimal vectors

Consider a positive-definite $2n$-dimensional lattice with minimum norm $\mu$. It is sometimes possible to find a generating set of minimal vectors for the lattice such that the Gram matrix takes the ...
Chaitanya Murthy's user avatar
6 votes
0 answers
268 views

Bound on the determinant of a quadratic form restricted to a subspace

Let $Q\colon \mathbb{Z}^{n}\oplus\mathbb{Z}^m\to\mathbb{R}$ be a real quadratic form, which we denote $Q(x,y)$, $x\in\mathbb{Z}^n$, $y\in\mathbb{Z}^m$. Suppose: The minimum of $Q(x,y)$ as $y$ varies ...
Yoav Kallus's user avatar
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5 votes
0 answers
175 views

Epstein zeta function for non-fundamental discriminant to L-series

Let $Q(x,y) = ax^2+b xy + cy^2$ be a primitive integral positive-definite quadratic form, with associated number field $K$. If $D=b^2-4ac$ is a fundamental discriminant, then it's well-known that $$\...
pisco's user avatar
  • 528
5 votes
0 answers
162 views

Generators of the automorphism group of a quadratic form

Suppose that $q$ is an integral quadratic form, not necessarily unimodular or even non-degenerate, and write $O_q(\mathbb{Z})$ for its automorphism group. According to this question this group is ...
Danny Ruberman's user avatar
5 votes
1 answer
414 views

Binary quadratic forms order four in the form class group not having desired coefficients

I have been looking at binary quadratic forms for a question on MSE, If a binary quadratic form primitively represents $n$ and $n^3$, must it be the identity form?, about forms representing a prime (...
Will Jagy's user avatar
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5 votes
0 answers
237 views

Linearly independent quadratic forms vanishing on a finite set of points

The question I am interested in can be summed up as follows: given positive integers $n,m,k$, how do we write down $m$ linearly independent quadratic forms $Q_1, \cdots, Q_m \in \mathbb{C}[x_0, \cdots,...
Stanley Yao Xiao's user avatar
5 votes
0 answers
258 views

Sums of two integer squares in arithmetic progressions

Is there an explicit formula in the literature for the number of representations of a positive integer $n$ as a sum of two integer squares, the second of which is divisible by $5$? So this means to ...
Dr. Pi's user avatar
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5 votes
0 answers
229 views

Can we write each positive integer as $x^2+y^2+\varphi(z^2)$?

As odd squares are congruent to $1$ modulo $8$, any integer of the form $4^k(8m+7)$ with $k,m\in\mathbb N=\{0,1,2,\ldots\}$ cannot be written as the sum of three squares. To avoid such congruence ...
Zhi-Wei Sun's user avatar
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5 votes
0 answers
196 views

Is every integer $n>1$ the sum of two triangular numbers and two powers of $5$?

Recall that the triangular numbers are those integers $$T_n=n(n+1)/2\ \ \ (n=0,1,2,\ldots).$$ In 1796 Gauss proved that each $n\in\mathbb N=\{0,1,2,\ldots\}$ is the sum of three triangular numbers, ...
Zhi-Wei Sun's user avatar
  • 15.6k
5 votes
0 answers
376 views

Selmer Group of number fields and Ideal lattices

Let $K$ be a totally real number field of degree $n$ and dicriminant $d$, in this article of F.Lemmermeyer the selmer group of $K$ is defined as $$\text{Sel}(K):=\{\alpha \in K^{\times}: (\alpha)=...
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5 votes
0 answers
376 views

primes represented by indefinite quadratic forms

Let $Q$ be an indefinite binary quadratic form with discriminant $D$ and one class per genus (keep the example $x^2 - 2y^2$ in mind). If one asks about the set $P = \{ p : p \text{ prime and } p = Q(...
Victor Miller's user avatar
5 votes
0 answers
308 views

Algorithm for solutions to quadratic forms over number fields

Are there any know (preferably implemented) algorithms to find solutions to quadratic forms over number fields (or global fields)? I am especially interested in the quaternary case. There exist some ...
Casaubon's user avatar
  • 101
5 votes
0 answers
596 views

Literature on Exponential of a Quadratic Form

Let $A_i$, $i=1,\dots,L$ be given $N\times N$ positive definite real matrices. I have this sum of exponentials \begin{align} f(\mathbf{x})=\sum_{i=1}^{L}\operatorname{exp}(-{\mathbf{x}^T\mathbf{A}_i\...
dineshdileep's user avatar
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5 votes
0 answers
213 views

Effect of Covering Radius on Shortest Vector

For "even" integral lattices in dimension at least 4, does a covering radius strictly less than $\sqrt 2$ imply that there is a vector of norm 2, also called a root? Note that this is simply false in ...
Will Jagy's user avatar
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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 \...
wlad's user avatar
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4 votes
0 answers
124 views

On the quadratic equivalence of fields

I have spent the past two years studying abstract Witt rings. These objects are a generalization of "The Witt ring of a field," an algebraic invariant of fields of characteristic not equal to 2. ...
Chickenmancer's user avatar
4 votes
0 answers
161 views

Quadrics contained in the (complex) Cayley plane

In the paper Ilev, Manivel - The Chow ring of the Cayley plane we can learn, that $CH^8(X)$, with $X := E_6/P_1$, denoting the Cayley plane, has three generators with one of them being the class of ...
nxir's user avatar
  • 1,479
4 votes
0 answers
121 views

Norm variety for n=5, p=2 not isomorphic to a quadric

In the paper "Motivic construction of cohomological invariants", the author displays a list of known norm varieties for several $n,p$ on page $11$. For $p=2, n=5$ it says that a norm variety is given ...
nxir's user avatar
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4 votes
0 answers
390 views

Fully Homomorphic Error Correction?

Consider a field $F$. Suppose we have two vectors $a,b\in F^n$, and an invertible matrix $G\in F^{n\times n}$. Let $c\in F^n$ be the point-wise product of $a$ and $b$, that is, $c_i=a_ib_i$. Let $x=...
Bill Bradley's user avatar
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4 votes
0 answers
835 views

Hermitian forms over quaternion algebra

Notations: Let $Q=(a,b)$ be a quaternion algebra over a field of characteristic $\neq 2$, i.e. $i^2=a, j^2=b, k=ij, ij=-ji$. Consider $K=k(t)(\alpha)$, where $\alpha=\sqrt{at^2+b}$. Let $\sigma=Int(i)\...
user40597's user avatar
4 votes
0 answers
200 views

Is the class number of the quadratic field $x^2=3\cdot2^n+1$ $O(n)$?

Numerical evidence suggest that the class number of the quadratic field $x^2=3\cdot2^n+1$ is $O(n)$ while the discriminant is $O(2^n)$. Here are the class numbers for $n=6 \dots 110$ computed with ...
joro's user avatar
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3 votes
0 answers
160 views

Bott periodicity in characteristic p via Clifford algebras

I am currently reading Husemoller's wonderful book on fibre bundles, specifically the section on Clifford algebras. He defines these groups $L_k$ as follows. Let $M_k$ denote the free abelian groups ...
Noah Wisdom's user avatar
3 votes
0 answers
606 views

Proving an optimization problem from continuous input to binary is optimal

Suppose we have a function $f(x,y,z)$ where the inputs are uniform from 0 to 1. The output is either $+1$ or $-1$. And there is a partial symmetry $f(x,y,z) = f(z,y,x)$. Tell me what the minimum of ...
Kunal Marwaha's user avatar
3 votes
0 answers
308 views

Is there an integer-valued quadratic polynomial $P(x,y)$ such that $\{P(x,y)+2^k:\ x,y\in\mathbb Z\ \text{and}\ k\in\mathbb N\}=\mathbb Z^+$?

I seek for very sparse representations of positive integers. Let $$\mathbb N=\{0,1,2,\ldots\}\ \ \ \text{and}\ \ \ \mathbb Z^+=\{1,2,3,\ldots\}.$$ Recall that a polynomial $P(x,y)$ is integer-valued ...
Zhi-Wei Sun's user avatar
  • 15.6k
3 votes
0 answers
138 views

Is there a method to solve a non-linear quadratic matrix equation?

I am interested in solving the following quadratic equation: $$x^{\top} A x = \sqrt{x^{\top} B x}$$ Here, $x \in \mathbb{R^q}$ is an unknown vector, and A and B are two q$\times$q-dimensional ...
Alison's user avatar
  • 31
3 votes
0 answers
203 views

On sums of three squares

Let $\mathbb N=\{0,1,2,\ldots\}$. By the Gauss-Legendre theorem on sums of three squares, any $n\in\mathbb N$ with $n\equiv1,2\pmod4$ can be written as $x^2+y^2+z^2$ with $x,y,z\in\mathbb N$. Clearly, ...
Zhi-Wei Sun's user avatar
  • 15.6k
3 votes
0 answers
136 views

Can we write each positive integer as $w^2+x^2(1+2y^2+2z^2)$ with $w,x,y,z\in\mathbb Z$ and $x\not=0$?

Lagrange's four-square theorem states that each nonnegative integer is the sum of four squares. Here I ask the following question concerning a refinement of Lagrange's four-square theorem. QUESTION: ...
Zhi-Wei Sun's user avatar
  • 15.6k
3 votes
0 answers
111 views

On covering with Idoneal integers

$d\in\Bbb N$ is an idoneal integer if $N\in\Bbb N_{>1}$ can be written uniquely as $N=x^2\pm dy^2$ then $N=2^mp^n$ where $p$ is odd prime and $n\geq0$ and $m\geq0$ holds. Let the $65$ known ...
user avatar
3 votes
0 answers
171 views

Self-dual vertex algebras

Let $(V,Y)$ be a self-dual conformal vertex algebra. For instance, it could be the vertex algebra associated to a positive definite, even, unimodular quadratic form. I look for a formula to compute $$ ...
Giulio's user avatar
  • 2,384
3 votes
0 answers
292 views

Distance between quadratic forms

In notes here http://math.univ-lyon1.fr/homes-www/gille/prenotes/lens.pdf on page $2$ a formulation of distance between two positive quadratic form $[q],[q']$ is given by $$d([q],[q'])=\frac{\sup_{x\...
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