Continuous Pythagoras numbers for rational quadratic forms

DOI10.1016/0022-314X(87)90083-7MaRDI QIDQ580403zbMATH OpenFDO

Authors Charles N. Delzell

Publication date 1987

Published in Journal of Number Theory (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://doi.org/10.1016/0022-314X(87)90083-7

zbMATH Keywords

commutative ringPythagoras numbersrational quadratic formssum of squares

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Quadratic forms over general fields (11E04) General binary quadratic forms (11E16) Real and complex fields (12D99) Topological rings and modules (13J99)

Review text

In a commutative ring R consider the set \(\Sigma\) of elements representable as \(\sum w_ is^ 2_ i\), where \(w_ i\), resp. \(s_ i\), are chosen from subsets W, resp. S, of R. Concrete examples studied in the paper are \(R={\mathbb{R}}[X_ 1,...,X_ n]\), \(W={\mathbb{R}}^+\) or \(W=\{1\}\) and \(S=\{linear\) forms\(\}\). The question is, are there a fixed number m and functions observing special restrictions \(f_ 1,...,f_ m\), resp. \(g_ 1,...,g_ m\), from \(\Sigma\) to W, resp. S, such that for all \(a\in \Sigma\) one has \(a=\sum^{m}_{i=1}f_ i(a)g_ i(a)^ 2 ?\) The minimal possible m is then some sort of Pythagoras number. The restrictions posed on the \(f_ i\), \(g_ i\) are first continuity (of \(f_ i\), \(g_ i\) separately or of \(f_ ig^ 2_ i)\) and secondly some kinds of rationality: \({\mathbb{Q}}\)-rational; semialgebraic, defined by polynomials over \({\mathbb{Q}}\); f(\({\mathbb{Q}})\subset {\mathbb{Q}}\). The author obtains several values or bounds for his Pythagoras numbers.

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Cites work

• A continuous, constructive solution to Hilbert's \(17^{th}\) problem
• A Hasse principle for two dimensional global fields.
• Analytic Right-Inverses to Quadratic Forms over Number Fields
• On sums of squares and on elliptic curves over function fields
• On the Representation of a Rational as a Sum of Four Squares By Means of Regular Functions
• The Pythagoras number of some affine algebras and local algebras.

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(4)

• Impossibility of \(C^{\infty}\) variation or formal power series variation in solutions to Hilbert's 17th problem
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• Inequalities between Pythagoras numbers and algebraic ranks in Witt rings of fields
• On the Pythagoras number of the simplest cubic fields

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