Counting rational points of a Grassmannian

Abstract: We prove an estimate on the number of rational points on the Grassmannian variety of bounded twisted height, refining the classical results of Schmidt ([12]) and Thunder ([20]) over the rational field: most importantly, our formula counts all points. Among the consequences are a couple of new implications on the classical subject of counting rational points on flag varieties.

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Let \(\mathcal L \subset\mathbb R^n\) be a lattice. For an integer \(1 \leq d < \operatorname{rk} \mathcal L\) and real number \(H > 0\), define \(P(\mathcal L,d,H)\) to be the number of primitive rank \(d\) sublattices of \(\mathcal L\) of determinant no bigger than \(H\). Asymptotic behavior of the function \(P(\mathcal L,d,H)\) for growing \(H\) has been previously investigated by several authors, including \textit{W. M. Schmidt} [Duke Math. J. 35, 327--339 (1968; Zbl 0172.06304)] and \textit{J. L. Thunder} [Compos. Math. 88, No. 2, 155-186 (1993; Zbl 0806.11030)]. The paper under review takes this investigation further, offering a generalization and refinement of these previous results. Specifically, W.M. Schmidt defined the constants \[a(n,d) = \frac{1}{n} \binom{n}{d} \prod_{i=1}^d \left( \frac{V(n-i+1)}{V(i)} \cdot \frac{\zeta(i)}{\zeta(n-i+1} \right),\] \[b(n,d) = \max \left\{ \frac{1}{d}, \frac{1}{n-d} \right\},\] where \(V(i)\) is the volume of a unit ball in \(\mathbb R^i\) and \(\zeta(i)\) is the Riemann zeta function (with the convention \(\zeta(1)=1\)), and used them to obtain the asymptotic estimate \[P(\mathbb Z^n,d,H) = a(n,d)H^n +O(H^{n-b(n,d)}).\] The author of the present paper proves the more general analogous estimate for an arbitrary lattice \(\mathcal L\): \[P(\mathcal L,d,H) = a(n,d) \frac{H^n}{(\det \mathcal L)^d} + O \left( 1 + \left( \frac{H}{\lambda_1(\mathcal L)^d} \right)^{n-b(n,d)} \right),\] where \(\lambda_1(\mathcal L)\) is the first successive minimum of \(\mathcal L\) and the implied constant in \(O\)-notation depends only on \(n\). The author also presents a more technical refined version of his theorem, as well as its variants for counting not necessarily primitive sublattices and for counting sublattices with certain restrictions on lower-dimensional intersections (in the spirit Thunder's prior result). Among applications of his main theorems, the author obtains counting estimates on the number of rational points of bounded height on Grassmanians and on flag varieties, again in the spirit of the previous work of Thunder. A novel element in the author's method of proof is a ``downward approach: project all the \(d\)-dimensional sublattices to a hyperplane, and count the cardinality of each fiber. This approach leads to an inductive formula for \(P(\mathcal L,d,H)\) in terms of lower-dimensional projection lattice, involving a certain integral transformation. The bulk of the work then goes into estimating this integral transformation.

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