Integral matrices as diagonal quadratic forms II (Q6925540)

Given integers \(a_1, \dots, a_m\), the diagonal quadratic form \(\sum_{i=1}^m a_i X_i^2\) is called \textit{universal} over \(M_n(\mathbb{Z})\) if every \(n\times n\) integer matrix \(M\) can be expressed as \(M = \sum_{i=1}^m a_i X_i^2\) for integer matrices \(X_i\in M_n(\mathbb{Z})\), \(1\le i \le m\).\N\NLet \(f(n)\) be the smallest integer \(m\) such that for every pairwise coprime integers \(a_1, \dots, a_m\) the diagonal quadratic form \(\sum_{i=1}^m a_i X_i^2\) is universal over \(M_n(\mathbb{Z})\).\N\NThis paper proves that \(f(3) \le 5\) (Theorem~2.2) and, for \(n\ge 4\), \(f(n)\le 6\) (Theorem 2.7). This is an improvement of an earlier result by the second author [Linear Multilinear Algebra 66, No. 4, 742--747 (2018; Zbl 1388.15020)]. The strategy of the proof is inspired by the work of \textit{L. N. Vaserstein} [Linear Multilinear Algebra 20, 1--4 (1987; Zbl 0603.10050)].