Systems of quadratic Diophantine inequalities and the value distribution of quadratic forms (Q2482217)

Let \(Q_1(x),\ldots,Q_r(x)\) be quadratic forms in \(s\) variables with real coefficients. The principal purpose of this paper is to study distribution of \((Q_1(x),\ldots,Q_r(x))\) in \({\mathbb R}^r\) for \(x\in{\mathbb Z}^s\). Fix a bounded star shaped body \(\Omega\subset{\mathbb R}^s\) which contains the origin as an inner point and an \(r\)-dimensional interval \(I\) with finite positive volume \(\text{vol}(I)\), and for a large parameter \(R\), write \[ A_I(R)=\sharp\{x\in{\mathbb Z}^s\mid x\in R\Omega,\;(Q_1(x),\ldots,Q_r(x)) \in I\}. \] Suppose then that all the forms in the real pencil generated by \(Q_1,\cdots,Q_r\) (that is, the forms of the shape \(\sum_{i=1}^r\alpha_iQ_i\) with real numbers \(\alpha_i\) not all zero) are irrational and have rank larger than \(8r\) (a form is called irrational, if it is not of the shape \(\alpha Q\) with \(\alpha\in{\mathbb R}\) and a form \(Q\) with rational coefficients). Under this assumption, the following conclusions (i) and (ii) are proved in this paper; (i) If the system \(Q_1(x)=0\), \(\cdots\), \(Q_r(x)=0\) has a nonsingular real solution, then for sufficiently large \(R\), one has \(A_I(R)\gg\text{vol}(I)R^{s-2r}\). Thus, in particular, the set \(\{(Q_1(x),\ldots,Q_r(x))\mid x\in{\mathbb Z}^s\}\) is dense in \({\mathbb R}^r\). When \(I\) is a subinterval of a given compact set \(K\subset{\mathbb R}^s\), this estimate for \(A_I(R)\) is uniform in \(I\). In the latter case, the implicit constants in the above statement depend at most on \(Q_1,\ldots,Q_r\), \(\Omega\) and \(K\). (ii) Let \[ V_I(R)=\text{vol}(\{x\in{\mathbb R}^s\mid x\in R\Omega,\, (Q_1(x),\ldots,Q_r(x))\in I\}), \] and suppose that there is a positive constant \(c\) depending on \(Q_1,\cdots,Q_r\) and \(\Omega\) such that for every finite interval \(I\subset{\mathbb R}^r\) with vol\((I)>0\), one has \(V_I(R)\sim c\,\text{vol}(I)R^{s-2r}\) as \(R\rightarrow\infty\). Then one has \(A_I(R)\sim c\,\text{vol}(I)R^{s-2r}\) as \(R\rightarrow\infty\). This result refines the main theorem of the previous paper of the author [J. Théor. Nombres Bordx. 17, 217--236 (2005; Zbl 1082.11020)]. It seems to be worth remarking that there are examples of systems of split forms for which one has \(V_I(R)\sim cR^{s-2r}(\log R)^j\) with some \(j\geq1\), and that it does not appear easy to give the asymptotics of \(V_I(R)\) in general. The above conclusion (ii) is applied to provide asymptotic formulae for higher correlation functions \(K_I^{(l)}(R)\) of the values of a positive definite irrational quadratic form \(Q\) in \(k\) variables, which is defined by \[ K_I^{(l)}(R)=\sharp\{(i_1,\ldots,i_l)| \, \lambda_{i_1},\cdots,\lambda_{i_l}\leq R^2,\,\lambda_{i_l}- \lambda_{i_1}\in I_j\,\text{ for }\,2\leq j\leq l\}, \] where \(l\) is an integer \(\geq2\), \(I=\prod_{j=2}^lI_j\) is an \((l-1)\)-dimensional interval, and \((\lambda_j)\) is the infinite sequence given by the values of \(Q(x)\) at \(x\in{\mathbb Z}^k\) with multiplicity, and with \(0=\lambda_0<\lambda_1\leq\lambda_2\leq \cdots\).