Characteristic polynomials, Ehrhart quasi-polynomials, and torus groups. (Q2488822)

The author studies the problem of finding the number \(f(K,k)\) of solutions of the equation \(kx=0\) where \(k\) is a positive integer and with \(x\) lying in a given subset \(K\) of the torus group \(\mathbb{T}^n=\mathbb{R}^n/\mathbb{Z}^n\). This problem is solved for certain types of subsets \(K\) for which it is shown that \(f(K,k)\) is a so-called quasi-polynomial, i.e., \(f(K,k)=c_0(k)+c_1(k)k+\cdots +c_d(k)k^d\) where the \(c_i\colon\mathbb{N}\to\mathbb{Z}\) are elements in the ring \({\mathcal R}_{per}\) of periodic functions \(\mathbb{N}\to\mathbb{Z}\). For example, in the case where \(K\) is a finite union of closed subgroups of \(\mathbb{T}^n\), it is shown that \(f(K,k)\) is a quasi-polynomial as above, with \(d\) the topological dimension of \(K\) and where the \(c_i(k)\) are periodic functions that lie in the subring of \({\mathcal R}_{per}\) generated by the functions \(k\mapsto\gcd(k,m)\), \(m\in\mathbb{N}\) (Theorem 1). Some applications to other Euclidean counting problems and to Ehrhart (quasi-)polynomials are also given.