English

Sums of squares with restrictions involving primes

Number Theory 2019-06-04 v4

Abstract

The well-known Lagrange's four-square theorem states that any integer nN={0,1,2,...}n\in\mathbb{N}=\{0,1,2,...\} can be written as the sum of four squares. Recently, Z.-W. Sun investigated the representations of nn as x2+y2+z2+w2x^2+y^2+z^2+w^2 with certain linear restrictions involving the integer variables x,y,z,wx,y,z,w. In this paper, via the theory of quadratic forms, we further study the representations n=x2+y2+z2+w2n=x^2+y^2+z^2+w^2 (resp., n=x2+y2+z2+2w2n=x^2+y^2+z^2+2w^2) with certain linear restrictions involving primes. For example, we obtain the following results: (i) Each positive integer n>1n>1 can be written as x2+y2+z2+2w2x^2+y^2+z^2+2w^2 (x,y,z,wNx,y,z,w\in\mathbb N) with x+yx+y prime. (ii) Every positive integer can be written as x2+y2+z2+2w2x^2+y^2+z^2+2w^2 (x,y,z,wNx,y,z,w\in\mathbb N) with x+2yx+2y prime. (iii) Let kk be any positive integer, and let d2k1d\ge 2^{k-1} be a positive odd integer with 4d2+14d^2+1 prime. Then any sufficiently large integer can be written as x2+y2+z2+2w2x^2+y^2+z^2+2w^2 (x,y,z,wN)(x,y,z,w\in\mathbb N) with x+2dy=pkx+2dy=p^k for some prime pp.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1811.08341,
  title  = {Sums of squares with restrictions involving primes},
  author = {Hai-Liang Wu and Zhi-Wei Sun},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1811.08341},
  year   = {2019}
}

Comments

15 pages, refined version