English

Classically Integral Quadratic Forms Excepting at Most Two Values

Number Theory 2016-08-05 v1

Abstract

Let SNS \subseteq \mathbb{N} be finite. Is there a positive definite quadratic form that fails to represent only those elements in SS? For S=S = \emptyset, this was solved (for classically integral forms) by the 1515-Theorem of Conway-Schneeberger in the early 1990s and (for all integral forms) by the 290290-Theorem of Bhargava-Hanke in the mid-2000s. In 1938 Halmos attempted to list all weighted sums of four squares that failed to represent S={m}S=\{m\}; of his 8888 candidates, he could provide complete justifications for all but one. In the same spirit, we ask, "for which S={m,n}S = \{m, n\} does there exist a quadratic form excepting only the elements of SS?" Extending the techniques of Bhargava and Hanke, we answer this question for quaternary forms. In the process, we prove what Halmos could not; namely, that x2+2y2+7z2+13w2x^2+2y^2+7z^2+13w^2 represents all positive integers except 55. We develop new strategies to handle forms of higher dimensions, yielding an enumeration of and proofs for the 7373 possible pairs that a classically integral positive definite quadratic form may except.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1608.01656,
  title  = {Classically Integral Quadratic Forms Excepting at Most Two Values},
  author = {Madeleine Barowsky and William Damron and Andres Mejia and Frederick Saia and Nolan Schock and Katherine Thompson},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1608.01656},
  year   = {2016}
}
R2 v1 2026-06-22T15:12:41.714Z