The distribution of spacings between quadratic residues (Q1974964)

The authors study the spacing distribution of squares mod \(q\) when \(q\) is squarefree and highly composite, that is to say the limiting distribution as the number \(\omega(q)\) of prime factors of \(q\) tends to infinity. Since the number of squares modulo odd squarefree \(q\) is \(N_q=\prod_{p\mid q}{1\over 2}(p+1)\), the mean spacing between them is \(s_q = 2^{\omega(q)}/\sigma_{-1}(q)\), in the usual notation. When \(\mathcal C\) is a convex set in \({\mathbb R}^{r-1}\) the authors work with a correlation function \(R_r({\mathcal C},q) = {N_q}^{-1}\sum_{h \in s_q{\mathcal C}}N(h,q)\), in which \(h=(h_1,\ldots ,h_{r-1})\) and \(N(h,q)\) is the number of solutions of the system of congruences \(y_{i+1}-y_i \equiv h_i\), \(\operatorname {mod} q\) with \(y_j\) squares \(\operatorname {mod}q\). They show (subject to a mild condition on \(\mathcal C\)) that \(R_r({\mathcal C},q) = \text{Vol}({\mathcal C}) +O(s^{-1/2+\varepsilon})\) as \(s_q \to \infty\). From this result they infer that the (multivariate) distribution of the squares mod \(q\) is an exponential one. This inference involves a process described in a book by \textit{N. M. Katz} and \textit{P. Sarnak} [Random matrices, Frobenius eigenvalues, and monodromy, American Mathematical Society Colloquium Publications 45 (1999; Zbl 0958.11004)], and also given in an appendix supplied by the authors. This process is also implicit in work by \textit{C. Hooley} on an analogous question about the distribution of the numbers coprime to \(n\) [Math. Z. 90, 355-364 (1965; Zbl 0142.29202)]. The results in this paper have a connection with work of \textit{Z. Rudnick}, \textit{P. Sarnak} and \textit{A. Zaharescu} [Invent. Math. 145, No. 1, 37-57 (2001; Zbl 1006.11041)] on the distribution of the fractional parts of \(n^2\alpha\) for irrational \(\alpha\).