English

Optimal strong approximation for quadratic forms

Number Theory 2019-09-18 v4 Combinatorics

Abstract

For a non-degenerate integral quadratic form F(x1,,xd)F(x_1, \dots , x_d) in d5d\geq5 variables, we prove an optimal strong approximation theorem. Let Ω\Omega be a fixed compact subset of the affine quadric F(x1,,xd)=1F(x_1,\dots,x_d)=1 over the real numbers. Take a small ball BB of radius 0<r<10<r<1 inside Ω\Omega, and an integer mm. Further assume that NN is a given integer which satisfies Nδ,Ω(r1m)4+δN\gg_{\delta,\Omega}(r^{-1}m)^{4+\delta} for any δ>0\delta>0. Finally assume that an integral vector (λ1,,λd)(\lambda_1, \dots, \lambda_d) mod mm is given. Then we show that there exists an integral solution X=(x1,,xd)X=(x_1,\dots,x_d) of F(X)=NF(X)=N such that xiλi mod mx_i\equiv \lambda_i \text{ mod } m and XNB\frac{X}{\sqrt{N}}\in B, provided that all the local conditions are satisfied. We also show that 4 is the best possible exponent. Moreover, for a non-degenerate integral quadratic form in 4 variables we prove the same result if NN is odd and Nδ,Ω(r1m)6+ϵN\gg_{\delta,\Omega} (r^{-1}m)^{6+\epsilon}. Based on our numerical experiments on the diameter of LPS Ramanujan graphs and the expected square root cancellation in a particular sum that appears in Remark~\ref{evidence}, we conjecture that the theorem holds for any quadratic form in 4 variables with the optimal exponent 44.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1510.00462,
  title  = {Optimal strong approximation for quadratic forms},
  author = {Naser T Sardari},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1510.00462},
  year   = {2019}
}

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