Pair correlation densities of inhomogeneous quadratic forms (Q1423897)

Consider the infinite sequence \(0\leq\lambda_1\leq \lambda_2\cdots\to\infty\) given by the values of \((m-\alpha)^2+ (n-\beta)^2\) at lattice points \((m,n)\in \mathbb Z^2\), for fixed, \(\alpha,\beta\in [0,1]\). The asymptotic density of the sequence \(\lambda_j\) is \(\pi\) according to the well known formula for the number of lattice points in a large shifted circle. More generally, suppose we have \(\lambda_j\) of mean density \(D\). For a given interval \([a,b]\subset\mathbb R\), the pair correlation function in then defined as \[ R_2[a,b](\lambda)= (1/D\lambda\# \{j\neq k: \lambda_j\leq\lambda,\,\lambda_k\leq \lambda,\,a\leq\lambda_j- \lambda_k\leq b\}. \] If the \(\lambda_j\) come from a Poisson process with mean density \(D\), \(\lim_{\lambda\to\infty} R_2[a,b](\lambda)= D(b-a)\) almost surely. It is proved here, that if \(\alpha\), \(\beta\), \(1\) are linearly independent over \(\mathbb Q\) and \(\alpha\) is diophantine then \(\lim_{\lambda\to\infty} R_2[a,b](\lambda)= \pi(b- a)\). This proves the Berry-Tabor conjecture for the spectral two point correlation of the Laplacian. This result does not hold for any rational \(\alpha\), \(\beta\) where the pair correlation function is unbounded. This can be used to show that for generic \((\alpha,\beta)\) in the topological sense the pair correlation does not converge to uniform density. It also establishes a particular case of the quantitative version of the Oppenheim conjecture for the inhomogeneous quadratic forms of signature \((2,2)\). The proof uses theta sums and Ratner's classification of measures invariant under unipotent flows.