A Diophantine problem about Kummer surfaces (Q6044273)

Let \(F(x) = F(x_{0}, ..., x_{n})\) with \(n\geq 2\) be an integral form with \(\deg(F) \geq 2\) and set \[ N_{F}(T) = \# \{ x \in \mathbb{Z}^{n+1}: F(x) =z^{2} \text{ for some } z \in \mathbb{Z}, \gcd(x_{0}, ..., x_{n}) = 1 \text{ and } ||x|| \leq T\}, \] where \(||x|| =\max_{j}(|x_{j}|)\). When degree of \(F\) is even, then \(N_{F}(T)\) counts rational points of bounded height on a double cover of \(\mathbb{P}^{n}_{\mathbb{Q}}\) ramified over the hypersurface given by \(F(x)=0\). In the present note the author considers the problem of estimating \(N_{F}(T)\) from above and below when \(n=3\) for a special class of quartics, namely those for which \(F(x)=0\) define certain Kummer surfaces. One can define a Kummer surface in terms of an integral sextic polynomial \(P(t)\). For fixed \(a,b,c,d,e,f,g \in \mathbb{Z}\) with \(a\neq 0\), let \[ P(t) = at^{6} + bt^5 + ct^4 + dt^3 + et^2 +ft + g. \] Suppose that the discriminant of \(P\) is not zero. Define the symmetric matrices as follows: \[ S_{0} = \begin{pmatrix} a & b/2 & 0 & 0\\ b/2 & c & d/2 & 0 \\ 0 & d/2 & e & f/2 \\ 0 & 0 & f/2 & g \end{pmatrix},\quad S_{1} = \begin{pmatrix} 0 & 0 & 0 & 0 \\ 0 & 0 & 0 & -1/2 \\ 0 & 0 & 1 & 0 \\ 0 & -1/2 & 0 & 0 \end{pmatrix},\] \[S_{2} = \begin{pmatrix} 0 & 0 & 0 & 1/2 \\ 0 & 0 & -1/2 & 0 \\ 0 & -1/2 & 0 & 0 \\ 1/2 & 0 & 0 & 0 \end{pmatrix},\quad S_{3} = \begin{pmatrix} 0 & 0 & -1/2 & 0 \\ 0 & 0 & 0 & 0 \\ -1/2 & 0 & 0 & 0 \\ 0 & 0 & 0 & 0 \end{pmatrix}. \] For \(x = (x_{0}, x_{1}, x_{2}, x_{3})\) define the matrix \[ S_{x} = x_{0}S_{0} + x_{1}S_{1} + x_{2}S_{2}+x_{3}S_{3}. \] Now we define the associated quartic form \(F\) by \[ (\star):F(x) :=16\cdot\mathrm{det} S_{x}. \] Over the complex numbers the surface given by \(F(x) = 0\) is a Kummer surface that is singular along sixteen nodes. The main result of the note can be formulated as follows. Main Theorem. Suppose that \(P(t) = at^{6} + bt^5 + ct^4 + dt^3 + et^2 -2t\) with integral \(a,b,c,d,e\) has non-zero discriminant and \(a\neq 0\). Let \(F\) be defined by \((\star)\) and consider \(N_{F}(T)\) as above. Then for any \(\varepsilon >0\) one has \[ T^{2} \ll N_{F}(T) \ll T^{3+\varepsilon}, \] where the first implied constant depends only on \(P\) and the second depends only on \(P\) and \(\varepsilon\).