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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Is the square of the covering radius of an integral lattice/quadratic form always rational?
This is one of many observations from Pete L. Clark's questions on "Euclidean" quadratic forms. I sent Pete many positive integral forms that obeyed his condition. In turn, his condition turns out to ...
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Identification of conformal classes of pos def quadratic forms on R^2 with unit ball
One of the lemmas at the foundation of Teichmuller theory is as follows. Let $Q(x,y)$ be a positive definite quadratic form. Then there exists unique $\lambda \in \mathbb{R}$ and $\mu \in \mathbb{C}$...
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Orthogonal transformations fixing a subspace (setwise)
Let $(V,Q)$ be a non-degenerate quadratic space of dimension $n$ over an algebraically closed field of characteristic zero. Let $W$ be a subspace of $V$ of dimension $m < \frac12 n$ which is ...
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Rationality of quadric fibrations
Let $Q\to S$ be a quadric fibration over a rational base $S$, over an algebraically closed field of non zero characteristic. Is it true the following?
$Q$ is rational if and only if $Q \to S$ has a ...
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action of SO(q)
Let $(V,q)$ be a non-degenerate quadratic space. Then we know that for any $d$ with $0 \leq 2d \leq \dim V$, the group $O(q)$ of isometries of $(V,q)$ acts transitively on the set of totally isotropic ...
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Spinor norm interpretation for a specific orthogonal group?
I hate to admit I don't know the answer to this but a referee has asked me about it in a paper of mine so here goes. Let F be a p-adic field with p odd. Let Q by a quaternary quadratic form over F of ...
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Canonical form for a pair of quadratic forms
Could anyone recommend a reference to a canonical form for a pair of quadratic forms over R (not necessarily positively definite)? This is probably related to the Weierstrass elementary divisors (but ...
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Infimum of the Dirichlet form for a tensor product
If $Q$ is the generator of a well-behaved continuous-time Markov process on a finite state space and $p$ is the invariant distribution, the corresponding Dirichlet form is $\mathcal{D}_Q(f) := \frac{1}...
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Clifford PBW theorem for quadratic form
$\DeclareMathOperator\Cl{Cl}$Update Feb 3 '12: now with a question 2 which is much more elementary (and should be well-known!).
Let $k$ be a commutative ring with $1$. Let $L$ be a $k$-module, and $g:...
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Rationality of intersection of quadrics
Let $X \subset \mathbb{P}^n$ be a complete intersection of two quadrics. It is classical that, if $X$ contains a line, then it is rational. The proof is very simple and basically it is given by taking ...
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Examples of naturally occurring Quadratic forms or quadrics.
I am always fascinated when a quadratic form (or a quadric) arises naturally. I have
some elementary examples, but most of all, I want to learn more examples. I hope this question isn't considered too ...
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Mass of spinor genus, positive integral quadratic forms
There seems to be general opinion that, for positive integral quadratic forms in at least three variables, spinor genera in the same genus all have the same mass (not representation measures of some ...
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Watson Transformation Squared reference request
See
http://www.numbertheory.org/obituaries/OTHERS/watson.html
George Leo Watson (1909-1988) wrote in a conversational manner, it is difficult to see when he switches from the trivial to the ...
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Integration of exponentials of quadratic forms (general Gaussian itegrals) over semi-finite domains
Hi
I'm interested in evaluating the integral of $e^{-s^T A s + b s}$ over a semi-infinite domain. $A$ is $\binom{N}{2}$x$\binom{N}{2}$ and has $N-1$ eigenvalues equal to $N$, and the rest 0. In ...
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Higher Composition Law
Prof M.Bhargava's work on "Higher Composition Law" which solved some outstanding conjectures on number theory seems to be very interesting topic. I have seen his papers but, in spite of the titles, it ...
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Root systems and sums of squares
It is easy to see that the quadratic form for the root system $A_n$ is a sum of $n+1$ squares of integral linear forms:
$$q_{A_n} = 2 \sum_{i=1}^n x_i^2 - 2 \sum_{i=1}^{n-1} x_i x_{i+1} =
x_1^2 + (...
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Verifying my other example in the Geometry of Numbers and Quadratic Forms
In answer to Pete L. Clark's question Must a ring which admits a Euclidean quadratic form be Euclidean? on Euclidean quadratic forms, I also gave an example in six or fewer variables, repeated below. ...
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Verifying an example in the Geometry of Numbers and Quadratic Forms
In answer to Pete L. Clark's question Must a ring which admits a Euclidean quadratic form be Euclidean? on Euclidean quadratic forms, I gave an example in seven variables, repeated below. Pete's ...
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Must a ring which admits a Euclidean quadratic form be Euclidean?
The question is in the title, but employs some private terminology, so I had better explain.
Let $R$ be an integral domain with fraction field $K$, and write $R^{\bullet}$ for $R \setminus \{0\}$. ...
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Integral positive definite quadratic forms and graphs
Let me start with a question for which I know the answer. Consider a symmetric integral $n\times n$ matrix $A=(a_{ij})$ such that $a_{ii}=2$, and for $i\ne j$ one has $a_{ij}=0$ or $-1$. One can ...
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Rank of a linear combination of quadratic forms
Suppose we have a set of quadratic forms $Q_i (x_1, \dots, x_n)$ for $1 \leq i \leq k$ in $n$ variables, defined over $\mathbb{R}$. We suppose these are 'collectively nondegenerate' in the sense that ...
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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 ...
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Diagonalization of quadratic forms over euclidean rings
Let $A$ be a commutative euclidean ring, (probably) with 2 a unit in $A$. I'm trying to compute Witt and Grothendieck-Witt rings and since $A$ is a PID any f.g.p. module over it is free so I only need ...
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Quaternary quadratic forms and Elliptic curves via Langlands?
The content of this note was the topic of a lecture by Günter Harder at the School on Automorphic Forms, Trieste 2000. The actual problem comes from the article
A little bit of number theory by ...
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Number of integers $<\sqrt{d}/2$ represented by an indefinite quadratic form
Given an indefinite integral quadratic form $Q(x,y)=ax^2 +bxy + cy^2$ with $b^2-4ac=d>0$, is there an easy way to count the number of integers in $t \in (-\sqrt{d}/2, \sqrt{d}/2)$ such that there ...
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Zagier's one-sentence proof of a theorem of Fermat
Zagier has a very short proof (MR1041893, JSTOR) for the fact that every prime number $p$ of the form $4k+1$ is the sum of two squares.
The proof defines an involution of the set $S= \lbrace (x,y,z) \...
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Variations on a theme of O'Bryant, Cooper and Eichhorn concerning power series over $\mathbb Z/2\mathbb Z$
Define 2 power series over the field $\mathbb Z/2\mathbb Z$ by $f=1+x+x^3+x^6+\dots$, the exponents being the triangular numbers, and $g=1+x+x^4+x^9+\dots$, the exponents being the squares. Write $f/g$...
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Primes as the first coefficient of a reduced indefinite quadratic form
Given a discriminant d>0 (make it fundamental if that is easier), when can a prime p be the the $x^2$ coefficient of a reduced indefinite quadratic form?
That is, for what p is there a reduced form $...
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Achieving consecutive integers as norms from a quadratic field
This question is inspired by my inability to make any progress on Will Jagy's question.
Giving a positive answer to this question should be strictly easier than proving Jagy's conjectures.
Suppose ...
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Why are there usually an even number of representations as a sum of 11 squares
Question: Why do so few $n\equiv 3 \bmod 8$ have an odd number of representations in the form $$n=x_0^2 + x_1^2 + \dots + x_{10}^2$$ with $x_i \geq 0$?
Note that $x_i\geq 0$ spoils the symmetry ...
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Does a positive binary quadratic form represent a set of primes possessing a natural density
In his answer to my question
The Green-Tao theorem and positive binary quadratic forms
Kevin Ventullo answers my initial question in the affirmative. What remains is the title ...
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The Green-Tao theorem and positive binary quadratic forms
Some time ago I asked a question on consecutive numbers represented integrally by an integral positive binary quadratic form. It has occurred to me that, instead, the Green-Tao theorem may include a ...
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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 ...
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Decide how many non-negative solutions a set of multivariate quadratic equations have
Given a set of multivariate, quadratic, non-homogeneous equations, is there a way to decide how many non-negative roots it have?
Some explanations:
All the coefficients are real numbers.
The number ...
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If two fields are elementarily equivalent, what can we say about their Witt rings?
The question is in the title exactly as I want to ask it, but let me provide some background and motivation.
Many of the properties of fields studied in the algebraic theory of quadratic forms are ...
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Can a positive binary quadratic form represent 14 consecutive numbers?
NEW CONJECTURE: There is no general upper bound.
Wadim Zudilin suggested that I make this a separate question. This follows
representability of consecutive integers by a binary quadratic form
where ...
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Non-diagonalizable complex symmetric matrix
This is a question in elementary linear algebra, though I hope it's not so trivial to be closed.
Real symmetric matrices, complex hermitian matrices, unitary matrices, and complex matrices with ...
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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 ...
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Lower bounds for split primes in Real quadratic fields
Snippet portion:
From Iwaniec and Kowalski's Analytic Number Theory:
If the class number $h=h(D)$ is small, then there are only few
prime ideals $\bf{p}$ of degree one with small norm. Indeed, if
$p=...
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Does anyone have access to a copy of Yury G. Teterin's 1984 (Russian) preprint "Representation of numbers by spinor genera"
Encouraged by
Does anyone have an electronic copy of Waldspurger's "Sur les coefficients de Fourier des formes modulaires de poids demi-entier"?
I realized I could ask for this rare item ...
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Wanted: Quadratic Space in Characteristic 2 as a Counterexample to a Theorem of Arf
Hi. Peter Roquette sent me an email asking for an example of a quadratic space in characteristic 2 having certain features. I have no idea on this, but maybe someone reading this does.
He would ...
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Invariant quadratic forms of irreducible representations
Let $G$ be a finite group, and $k$ be a field of characteristic zero (not necessarily algebraically closed!). Let $\rho : G \to \mathrm{End}_k \left(k^n\right)$ be a irreducible representation of $G$ ...
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Is there an approach to understanding solution counts to quadratic forms that doesn't involve modular forms?
Given a quadratic form Q in k variables, there is an associated theta series $$\theta_Q(z) = \sum_{x\in \mathbb{Z}^k}q^{Q(x)}$$ where $q = e^{2\pi i z}$ which is a modular form of weight $k/2$. Thus ...
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