Local densities of representations of quadratic forms over \(p\)-adic integers (the non-dyadic case) (Q1573781)

Let \(p\geq 2\) be a prime. Let \(S\) and \(T\) be nondegenerate integral symmetric matrices of size \(m\) and \(n\) respectively, with \(m\geq n> 0\). Consider \(\alpha_p(T,S)\), the local density of the integral representation of \(T\) by \(S\). It is a classical problem to calculate local densities explicitly. A recent result of Katsurada gives an explicit formula for local densities in the case where \(S\) is unimodular and \(T\) is arbitrary. Another important recent result is due to Yang to calculate local densities explicitly for arbitrary \(S\) and \(T\) in case \(n=2\) and \(p\neq 2\). Katsurada's calculation is based on a recursion formula which allows us to reduce the calculation to the case of smaller \(n\) whereas Yang's calculation is based on an expression of local densities using certain character sums. The present paper gives an explicit formula for \(\alpha_p(T,S)\) in the case \(p\neq 2\) without any other restrictions, in terms of invariants of quadratic forms. The approach used is much closer to Yang's.