A quantitative Oppenheim theorem for generic diagonal quadratic forms (Q502993)

The author considers diagonal ternary quadratic forms of signature \((2,1)\): \[ Q(x)= x^2_1+\alpha_2 x^2_2- \alpha_3 x^2_3\qquad (\alpha_2,\alpha_3>0). \] For \(\alpha_2>0\) fixed and \(\alpha_3\in [{1\over 2},1]\) the following theorem is proved: For almost all \(\alpha_3\) the following holds: \[ \min_{\substack{ x\in\mathbb{Z}^3\setminus\{0\}\\ |x|<N}} |Q(x)|\ll N^{-1+\varepsilon}\quad\text{for all }\varepsilon>0, \] assuming the Lindelöf hypothesis for the Riemann zeta function and \(\min|Q(x)| \ll N^{-{2\over 5}+\varepsilon}\) unconditionally. Moreover, a quantitative Oppenheim theorem is proved, namely: There are functions \(A(N)\to\infty\) and \(\delta(N)\to 0\) with \(N\to\infty\) depending on \(Q\) such that \[ \max_{|\xi|<A(N)} \min_{\substack{ x\in\mathbb{Z}^n\\ 0<|x|<N}} |Q(x)- \xi|<\delta(N) \] provided \(A(N)\delta(N)^{-2}\ll N^{1-\varepsilon}\) assuming Lindelöf or provided \[ A(N)^3\delta(N)^{-{11\over 2}}\ll N^{1-\varepsilon} \] unconditionally. The method of proof is an analytic number theory approach similar to that in a paper of \textit{V. Blomer}, the author, \textit{M. Radziwi{łł}} and \textit{Z. Rudnick} [``Small gaps in the spectrum of the rectangular billiard'', \url{arXiv:1604.02413}].