English

Explicitly combing hedgehogs over fields of Stufe 4

Number Theory 2026-05-18 v1 Algebraic Geometry

Abstract

Let K[x,y,z]=K[X,Y,Z]/(X2+Y2+Z21)K[x,y,z]=K[X,Y,Z]/(X^2+Y^2+Z^2-1) be the coordinate ring of the algebraic unit sphere over a field KK. Umberto Zannier showed that there exists a matrix in SL3(K[x,y,z])\operatorname{SL}_3(K[x,y,z]) with first row (x,y,z)(x,y,z) for K=QpK=\mathbb Q_p, the field of pp-adic numbers for an odd prime pp, or more generally, if 1-1 is a sum of two squares in KK. The case K=Q2K=\mathbb Q_2 remained open and was subsequently posed and discussed by Zannier with numerous researchers, thereby bringing the problem to broader attention. In 2025, Alexey Ananyevskiy and Marc Levine showed that such a matrix exists if and only if KK has Stufe at most 44, equivalently, if there exist a,b,c,dKa,b,c,d\in K such that a2+b2+c2+d2=1a^2+b^2+c^2+d^2=-1. Since Q2\mathbb Q_2 has Stufe 44, this settled Zannier's problem. Their proof is purely existential and does not provide an explicit matrix. In this note, we construct an explicit example in terms of a,b,c,da,b,c,d and describe the computational techniques used to find it.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2605.15452,
  title  = {Explicitly combing hedgehogs over fields of Stufe 4},
  author = {Peter Müller},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2605.15452},
  year   = {2026}
}

Comments

10 pages

R2 v1 2026-07-22T07:13:26.072Z