On the solutions of quadratic Diophantine equations (Q968788)

Let \(F\) be a global or local field of characteristic zero. Let \(\mathfrak{g}\) denote the ring of all integers in \(F\). Let \(\mathfrak{p}\) denote the maximal ideal of \(\mathfrak{g}\) in the local case. Let \(V\) be an \(n\)-dimensional vector space over \(F\). Let \(\varphi: V \times V \rightarrow F\) be a non-degenerate symmetric \(F\)-bilinear form. Denote by \(\varphi[x]\) the quadratic form \(\varphi(x,x) \) on \(V\). Let \(L\) be a maximal lattice in \(V\) with respect to \(\varphi\). Let \(\mathrm{SO}^{\varphi}\) be the special orthogonal group of \(\varphi\). In this paper, the set of solutions of the quadratic Diophantine equation \(\varphi[x]=q \) in \(L\) has been considered. In case \(F\) is local, put \(C(L)=\{\gamma \in \mathrm{SO}^{\varphi}:L\gamma=L\}\), and take \(h \in L\) such that \(\varphi[h]\neq 0. \) It was shown by Shimura that there exists a finite subset \(A\) of \(\mathrm{SO}^{\varphi}\) such that \(L[\varphi[h]]=\bigsqcup_{\alpha \in A}h \alpha C(L)\) and cardinality of \( \{ L[q,\mathfrak{b}]/C(L)\} \leq 1\) if \(n >2\), \(\mathfrak{b}\) a fractional ideal of \(F.\) Using the works of Shimura on quadratic forms an explicit complete set \(\{ h\alpha\}_{\alpha \in A}\) of representatives for \(L[\varphi[h]]/C(L)\) is obtained. As a result, a criterion (in both global and local cases) of maximality of the lattice \(L\cap (Fh)^{\bot}\) in \((Fh)^{\bot}\) is also obtained. As one more global application, primitive solutions contained in a maximal lattice for the sum of squares on each vector space of dimension \(4,6,8\) or \(10\) over the field of rational numbers have also been investigated.