Statistics of ranks, determinants and characteristic polynomials of rational matrices (Q6964014)

For an integer \(H \ge 1\), the authors consider the sets\N\[\N\mathcal{F}(H)=\{a/b\, :\, a,b\in\mathbb{Z},\ 0 \le |a|,\, b \le H,\ \gcd(a,b)=1\},\N\]\Nthe Farey fractions of naive height at most \(H\), and\N\[\N\mathcal{E}(H)=\{1/a \,:\, a\in\mathbb{Z},\ 1 \le |a| \le H\},\N\]\Nthe set of Egyptian (unit) fractions. They also introduce the associated matrix families\N\[\N\mathcal{M}_{m,n}(\mathbb{Q};H)=\{A\in\mathbb{Q}^{m\times n}\, :\, a_{ij}\in \mathcal{F}(H)\}\N\]\Nand\N\[\N\mathcal{M}_{m,n}(\mathbb{Z}^{-1};H)=\{A\in\mathbb{Q}^{m\times n}\, :\, a_{ij}\in \mathcal{E}(H)\},\N\]\Nand study the cardinalities of subsets consisting of matrices of prescribed rank, determinant, or characteristic polynomial.\N\NThe main ideas are largely motivated by \textit{V. Blomer} and \textit{J. Li} [Int. Math. Res. Not. 2023, No. 23, 20296--20336 (2023; Zbl 1545.11035)].\N\NA central and technically significant part of the paper is the development of uniform bounds for the number of solutions to linear equations whose variables range in \(\mathcal{F}(H)\) or \(\mathcal{E}(H)\). The authors collect known results, strengthen several of them, and derive new bounds that are of independent interest. These estimates provide the analytic core of their counting arguments. Moreover, for small dimensions (\(n=2,3\)), the methods can be sharpened further by working directly with the matrix entries and exploiting additional algebraic relations arising from the determinant and characteristic polynomial. Whether such refinements can be extended to higher dimensions remains an open question.