English

Diophantine approximation on conics

Number Theory 2024-02-01 v2

Abstract

Given a conic C\mathcal{C} over Q\mathbb{Q}, it is natural to ask what real points on C\mathcal{C} are most difficult to approximate by rational points of low height. For the analogous problem on the real line (for which the least approximable number is the golden ratio, by Hurwitz's theorem), the approximabilities comprise the classically studied Lagrange and Markoff spectra, but work by Cha-Kim and Cha-Chapman-Gelb-Weiss shows that the spectra of conics can vary. We provide notions of approximability, Lagrange spectrum, and Markoff spectrum valid for a general C\mathcal{C} and prove that their behavior is exhausted by the special family of conics Cn:XZ=nY2\mathcal{C}_n : XZ = nY^2, which has symmetry by the modular group Γ0(n)\Gamma_0(n) and whose Markoff spectrum was studied in a different guise by A. Schmidt and Vulakh. The proof proceeds by using the Gross-Lucianovic bijection to relate a conic to a quaternionic subring of Mat2×2(Z)\operatorname{Mat}^{2\times 2}(\mathbb{Z}) and classifying invariant lattices in its 22-dimensional representation.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2205.12829,
  title  = {Diophantine approximation on conics},
  author = {Evan M. O'Dorney},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2205.12829},
  year   = {2024}
}

Comments

12 pp., incl. 2 tables. Corrected some minor errors and omissions from published version

R2 v1 2026-06-24T11:28:31.972Z