The approximate functional formula for the theta function and Diophantine Gauss sums (Q4382940)

The authors explore geometric diagrams obtained by plotting polygonal lines in the complex plane whose \(N\)th vertex is the sum \[ S_N(\omega)= \mathop{{\sum}'}^N_{n= 0}\exp(i\omega\pi k^2) \] for various real values of \(\omega\). The prime means that the first and last terms in the sum are halved. They introduce discrete curvature of the polygonal lines and exploit the similarity of segments of the line for small \(\omega\) to Cornu spirals, and thereby deduce an approximate functional equation relating \(S_N(\omega)\) to \(S_n(-1/\omega)\), where \(N\) is the nearest integer to \(n/\omega\). This sharpens the Hardy-Littlewood approximate functional equation for theta functions and also extends the well-known sum formula for Gaussian sums when \(\omega\) is rational to a diophantine inequality for irrational values of \(\omega\).