Singular matrices and a uniform bound for congruence groups of \(SL_ n(\mathbb{Z})\) (Q1210438)

For any set of irreducible polynomials \(F_ 1,\dots,F_ s\in \mathbb{Z}[X_ 1,\dots, X_ t]\) and any subring \(R\subset\mathbb{C}\) let \({\mathcal V}(R):= \{x\in R^ t:\;F_ 1(x)= \dots= F_ t(x)=0\}\). A fundamental problem in diophantine geometry is to understand the distribution of the integral points \({\mathcal V}(\mathbb{Z})\) on the real variety \({\mathcal V}(\mathbb{R})\) with respect to e.g. the Euclidean norm on \(\mathbb{R}^ t\). Since this problem is presently untractable in the most general setting one is led to consider situations when more structure is available, e.g. when the underlying variety is a homogeneous space for the action of a reductive linear algebraic group \(G\). A basic example is \(G= SL_ n\times SL_ n\) acting on \(\text{Mat}_ n\) by left and right multiplication and \[ {\mathcal V}_ k(\mathbb{R})= \{X\in \text{Mat}_ n(\mathbb{R}):\;\text{det } X=k\} \qquad (k\in\mathbb{Z}). \] For \(k\neq 0\) the group \(G(\mathbb{R})\) acts transitively on \({\mathcal V}_ k(\mathbb{R})\), and the asymptotics of \[ N(T,{\mathcal V}_ k):= |\{X\in{\mathcal V}_ k(\mathbb{Z}):\;\| X\|\leq T\}| \] is known. The author determines the asymptotic behaviour of \(N(T,{\mathcal V}_ 0)\) as \(T\to\infty\). In fact, he even solves the problem in the more general case where the ball \(\| X\|\leq T\) is replaced by the dilation \({\mathcal B}_ T= T{\mathcal B}\) of a convex body \({\mathcal B}\). The basic idea of proof is to view \({\mathcal V}_ 0\) as a union of linear spaces, reducing the problem to a collection of Euclidean lattice point problems. The equation defining \({\mathcal V}_ 0\) being homogeneous, there also is a corresponding projective variety \(P{\mathcal V}_ 0(\mathbb{R})\), and the corresponding counting problem with respect to the associated height function is solved over \(\mathbb{Q}\). Moreover, it is shown that the rational points on \(P{\mathcal V}_ 0(\mathbb{R})\) are equidistributed with respect to a suitable measure. A recent conjecture of Sarnak and Xue is verified for the special linear groups.