Positive values of non-homogeneous indefinite quadratic forms of type (1,4) (Q5906276)

Let \(Q(X)=Q(x_{1},\cdots ,x_{n})\) be a real indefinite quadratic form in \(n\) variables of determinant \(D\neq 0\) and type \((r, n-r)\). \textit{H. Blaney} [J. Lond. Math. Soc. 23, 153-160 (1948; Zbl 0031.20404)] proved that there exist real numbers \(\Gamma\) independent of \(Q\) and depending on \(n\) and \(r\), such that for any \(C\in \mathbb R^{n}\) there exists \(X\in \mathbb Z^{n}\) such that \[ 0<Q(X+C)\leqslant (\Gamma | D|)^{1/n}. \] Then arised the problem of determining the minimum \(\Gamma _{r, n-r}\) of all such numbers \(\Gamma\) for the given \(r\) and \(n-r\). Further investigations gave the values of \(\Gamma_{r, n-r}\) for all meaningful pairs \(r, n-r\) except for \(\Gamma _{1,4}\). \textit{V. C. Dumir} and \textit{R. Sehmi} [Proc. Indian Acad. Sci., Math. Sci. 104, 557-579 (1994; Zbl 0808.11044)] proved that \(8\leqslant \Gamma _{1,4}\leqslant 16\). The present paper modifies the method of Dumir and Sehmi and proves that \(\Gamma_{1,4}<12\).