English

On the flat cohomology of binary norm forms

Number Theory 2019-07-10 v2

Abstract

Let O\mathcal{O} be an order of index mm in the maximal order of a quadratic number field k=Q(d)k=\mathbb{Q}(\sqrt{d}). Let Od,m\underline{\mathbf{O}}_{d,m} be the orthogonal Z\mathbb{Z}-group of the associated norm form qd,mq_{d,m}. We describe the structure of the pointed set Hfl1(Z,Od,m)H^1_{\mathrm{fl}}(\mathbb{Z},\underline{\mathbf{O}}_{d,m}), which classifies quadratic forms isomorphic (properly or improperly) to qd,mq_{d,m} in the flat topology. Gauss classified quadratic forms of fundamental discriminant and showed that the composition of any binary Z\mathbb{Z}-form of discriminant Δk\Delta_k with itself belongs to the principal genus. Using cohomological language, we extend these results to forms of certain non-fundamental discriminants.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1702.05080,
  title  = {On the flat cohomology of binary norm forms},
  author = {Rony A. Bitan and Michael M. Schein},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1702.05080},
  year   = {2019}
}

Comments

24 pages, submitted. Comments are welcome

R2 v1 2026-06-22T18:20:31.205Z