On integral solutions of quadratic inequalities (Q2565963)

This paper studies the small values of indefinite quadratic forms with real coefficients in \(n\) variables. It shows that for \(n\geq 3\) all the Markov-type spectra of these forms consist of isolated points (apart possibly from the point \(0\)). This improves previous result which was obtained with much more complicated methods [\textit{L. Ya. Vulakh}, J. Number Theory 21, 275--285 (1985; Zbl 0578.10024)]. The aim of this paper is to prove the following isolation theorem. Theorem: Let \(n\geq 3\) be an integer. Then for any \(\varepsilon>0\) and any given nonsingular indefinite quadratic form in \(n\) variables, with real coefficients, there are integers \(x_1,\dots,x_n\) such that \[ 0<f(x_1,\dots,x_n)<\varepsilon | D(f)|^{1/n} \] unless \(f\) is equivalent to a positive multiple of one of a finite number of forms. Here \(D(f)\) denotes the determinant.