Distribution of Hermite's constant and the shortest vector in lattices of dimension two (Q1340684)

Let a two-dimensional lattice \(R\) have determinant \(d(R)\) and let \(\lambda (R)\) denote the length of the shortest vector in \(R\). The Hermite constant of \(R\), denoted by \(\gamma (R)\), is defined as \(\lambda (R)^2/ d(R)\); for all lattices we have \(\gamma (R)\leq 2/3^{1/2}\). Let \(z\) be chosen randomly in \(|z|\leq 1\): the lattice \(z\) with basis \((1,z)\) is transformed to a basis with shortest vector by a transformation \(z\to (az+ b)/( cz+ d)\), and the lattices with \(\lambda (z)\leq t\) correspond to the union of a number of Farey discs with \(c^2+ cd+ d^2\leq t^{-2}\). By evaluating the area of such a union it is found that \(\text{Pr} (\lambda (z)\leq t)= 2t^2 |\log t|(1+\beta (t))/ \zeta (2)\), where \(\beta (t)\to 0\) as \( t\to 0\). By a similar method, using Ford discs, it is found that \(\text{Pr} (\gamma (z)\leq r)= \zeta (3) r^2 (1+ \alpha(r))/ \zeta (4)\), where \(\alpha (r)\to 0\) as \(r\to 0\). [In Lemma 3, line 9, \(x_a\) and \(x_b\) should be interchanged, and for \(a-dt^2\) read \(a+dt^2\)].