A result on \(q\)-series and its application to quadratic forms (Q582317)

In the paper ``Local densities of quadratic forms'' [Adv. Stud. Pure Math. 13, 433--460 (1988; Zbl 0656.10014)] by the second author a certain conjecture about \(q\)-series was given, which was needed to prove a result about local densities. This conjecture is now proved. The following application then appears as a result: Let \(M\supset N\) be regular quadratic lattices over \({\mathbb Z}_ p\) with \(\text{rk}\, M=m\), \text{rk}\,N\(=n\), \(r=\) Witt index of \(M\). If \(m=2n\), \(n=r+2\), \(p\neq 2\), then for \(\varepsilon >0\) \[ \alpha_ p(p^ tN,M) < c(\varepsilon)p^{(\varepsilon -2)t}, \] where \(\alpha_ p(\,,\,)\) is the local density introduced by Siegel.