University of Waterloo

Faculty of Mathematics

The Hasse Principle for Diagonal Forms

Waterloo, ON

Prepared by:

Tuan Hiep (David) Do

20817055

2B Mathematical Finance & Pure Math

August 2021
Memorandum

To: Yu-Ru Liu

From: Tuan Hiep (David) Do

Date: August 12th, 2021

RE: The Hasse Principle for Diagonal Forms

Dear Professor Liu,

I have prepared the enclosed report “The Hasse Principle for Diagonal Forms” as my second

work term report, which is required as part of my Bachelor of Math Co-op degree.

Throughout my time as an undergraduate research assistant under your supervision, I have read

and worked on a variety of topics including the Circle Method, the Vinogradov’s Mean Value

Theorem, and the Discrete Restriction for a cubic curve. Moreover, I have also delivered two

talks to you and other research students. This report summarizes a relatively simple topic,

namely the application of the Circle Method to the solubility of a Diophantine equation, which

still captures the main spirit of all the research that I have conducted under your supervision.

The Faculty of Mathematics requests that you evaluate this report for command of topic and

technical content/analysis. Your evaluation will be submitted to the Math Undergraduate Office

for evaluation on campus by qualified work report markers. The combined marks determine

whether this report will receive credit and whether it will be considered for an award. Thank you

for your assistance in preparing for this report.

Sincerely,

Tuan Hiep (David) Do

iiiii
 Table of Contents

Executive Summary..........................................................................................................iii

1.0-Introduction.................................................................................................................1

2.0-Analysis.......................................................................................................................2

2.1-The Contribution from the Minor Arcs.......................................................................3

2.2-The Contribution from the Major Arcs.......................................................................5

2.3-The Overall Contribution...........................................................................................10

3.0-Conclusion..................................................................................................................11

References.........................................................................................................................12

ii
Executive Summary

The report “The Hasse Principle for Diagonal Forms” elucidates the applicability of the Circle

Method to the solubility of a Diophantine equation. The key observation is that we can transform

a combinatorial problem of determining the number of solutions to a Diophantine equation into

an analytic problem of estimating an integral.

In particular, we may separate the integral into two disjoint regions of integration called the

Major Arcs and the Minor Arcs. Our analysis will then divide into two main steps, namely

estimating the contributions from the Major Arcs and the Minor Arcs respectively. Afterwards,

we will then combine these two estimations into a final asymptotic formula for the number of

solutions to the Diophantine equation, which will then conclude that it has a non-trivial integral

solution.

iii
1.0 Introduction

For 𝑘 ∈ ℕ, 𝑠 ≥ 2𝑘 + 1, and 𝑐1 , 𝑐2 , … , 𝑐𝑠 are fixed non-zero integers, we define

𝜙(𝒙) = 𝑐1 𝑥1𝑘 + ⋯ + 𝑐𝑠 𝑥𝑠𝑘 .

We are interested in the solubility of the equation 𝜙(𝒙) = 0, in particular the non-trivial integral

solutions in ℤ𝑠 ∖ {𝟎}. Our main goal is to show that all the methods already developed with

regards to the Circle Method can be applied to questions of this type concerning the Diophantine

equation 𝜙(𝒙) = 0.

For the sake of simplicity, we will suppose that the equation 𝜙(𝒙) = 0 has a projective solution

everywhere locally. Thus, there exists 𝒛(∞) ∈ ℝ𝒔 ∖ {𝟎} such that 𝜙(𝒛(∞) ) = 0 and for each

prime 𝑝, there exists 𝒛(𝒑) ∈ ℚ𝑝 ∖ {0} so that 𝜙(𝒛(𝑝) ) = 0. Moreover, we will make use of a

theorem of Davenport and Lewis from 1963, which showed that solubility over ℚ𝑝 is assured for

every prime 𝑝 provided that 𝑠 ≥ 𝑘 2 + 1. As such, fix 𝑠 ≥ 𝑘 2 + 1, 𝑐1 , … , 𝑐𝑠 ∈ ℤ ∖ {0}, and let 𝜻 ∈

1
ℝ𝑠 ∖ {𝟎} so that 𝜙(𝜻) = 0. By homogeneity, we may assume that |𝜁𝑖 | < 2. Finally, we also

suppose that for each prime 𝑝 and each ℎ ∈ ℕ, there is a solution 𝒛 ∈ ℤ𝑠 of the congruence

𝑐1 𝑧1𝑘 + ⋯ + 𝑐𝑠 𝑧𝑠𝑘 ≡ 0 (𝑚𝑜𝑑 𝑝ℎ ),

in which 𝑝 does not divide 𝑧𝑖 for some 1 ≤ 𝑖 ≤ 𝑠. We say that the Hasse principle holds for the

equation 𝜙(𝒙) = 0 if whenever 𝜙(𝒙) = 0 has a projective solution everywhere locally, then it

also has a solution in ℤ𝑠 ∖ {𝟎}.

This report will focus on showing that the Hasse principle holds for the Diophantine equation

𝜙(𝒙) = 0. Specifically, we will attack this problem by applying the Circle Method.

1
2.0 Analysis

Denote 𝑁𝜙 (𝑋) to be the number of integral solutions

𝒙 ∈ [−𝑋, 𝑋] ∩ ℤ𝑠

to the equation 𝜙(𝒙) = 0. We write

𝑓(𝛼) = ∑ 𝑒(𝛼𝑥 𝑘 ),
|𝑥|≤𝑋

where 𝑒(𝑥) = 𝑒 2𝜋𝑖𝑥 = cos(2𝜋𝑥) + 𝑖sin(2𝜋𝑥). We notice a trivial observation, which turns out to

be extremely useful:

1
1, 𝑛 = 0,
∫ 𝑒(𝛼𝑛) 𝑑𝛼 = {
0
0, 𝑛 ∈ ℤ ∖ {0}.

Using this relationship, it follows that

1
𝑁𝜙 (𝑋) = ∫ 𝑓(𝑐1 𝛼) … 𝑓(𝑐𝑠 𝛼) 𝑑𝛼 .
0

We will employ the Hardy-Littlewood dissection (Circle Method) to show that

lim 𝑁𝜙 (𝑋) = ∞,
𝑋→∞

which will imply that there exists 𝒙 ∈ ℤ𝑠 ∖ {𝟎} with 𝜙(𝒙) = 0. The Hasse principle will then

follow for the equation 𝜙(𝒙) = 0.

Using this line of reasoning, we define

𝑀𝛿 = ⋃ 𝑀𝛿 (𝑞, 𝑎),
0≤𝑎≤𝑞≤𝑋 𝛿

2
where

𝑎
𝑀𝛿 (𝑞, 𝑎) = {𝛼 ∈ [0,1): |𝛼 − | ≤ 𝑋 𝛿−𝑘 },
𝑞

1
and 0 < 𝛿 < 5. Finally, take 𝑚𝛿 = [0,1) ∖ 𝑀𝛿 .

2.1 The Contribution from the Minor Arcs

By Holder’s inequality, we have that

𝑠 1
1 𝑠
|∫ 𝑓(𝑐1 𝛼) … 𝑓(𝑐𝑠 𝛼) 𝑑𝛼 | ≤ ∏ ( ∫ |𝑓(𝑐𝑖 𝛼)|𝑠 𝑑𝛼) .
0 𝑖=1 𝑚𝛿

For each index 𝑖, we have that

1
𝑘 𝑘
∫ |𝑓(𝑐𝑖 𝛼)|𝑠 𝑑𝛼 ≤ ( sup |𝑓(𝑐𝑖 𝛼)|) 𝑠−2 ∫ |𝑓(𝑐𝑖 𝛼)|2 𝑑𝛼.
𝑚𝛿 α∈mδ 0

By using a change of variable and the periodicity modulo 1 of 𝑓(𝛽) as well as Hua’s lemma, it

follows that

1 |𝑐𝑖 | 1
𝑘 𝑘 𝑘 𝑘 −𝑘+𝜖
∫ |𝑓(𝑐𝑖 𝛼)|2 𝑑𝛼 = |𝑐𝑖 |−1 ∫ |𝑓(𝛽)|2 𝑑𝛽 = ∫ |𝑓(𝛽)|2 𝑑𝛽 ≪ 𝑋 2 .
0 0 0

On the other hand, let 𝐻 = max |𝑐𝑖 |, and let 𝛼 ∈ 𝑚𝛿 . Then by Dirichlet’s approximation
1≤𝑖≤𝑠

𝑎
theorem, there exists 𝑎 ∈ ℤ and 𝑞 ∈ ℕ with 1 ≤ 𝑞 ≤ 𝑋 𝑘−𝛿 , gcd(𝑎, 𝑞) = 1, and |𝑐𝑖 𝛼 − 𝑞 | ≤

𝑋 𝛿−𝑘 . Denote

𝑎 |𝑐𝑖 | 𝑖 |𝑐 |𝑞
𝑏 = gcd (𝑐 ,𝑎) ⋅ 𝑐𝑖
and 𝑟 = gcd(𝑐 ,𝑎)
.
𝑖 𝑖

3
 𝑏
One can check that |𝛼 − 𝑟 | ≤ 𝑋 𝛿−𝑘 with 1 ≤ 𝑟 ≤ 𝐻𝑞 ≤ 𝐻𝑋 𝑘−𝛿 , and gcd(𝑏, 𝑟) = 1. If 1 ≤ 𝑟 ≤

𝑋 𝛿 , then 𝛼 ∈ 𝑀𝛿 (𝑏, 𝑟) ⊆ 𝑀𝛿 . However, since 𝛼 ∈ 𝑚𝛿 , we may assume that 𝑟 > 𝑋 𝛿 , which

implies that 𝐻 −1 𝑋 𝛿 < 𝑞 ≤ 𝑋 𝑘−𝛿 . We, therefore, deduce from Weyl’s inequality that

21−𝑘 21−𝑘
𝑓(𝑐𝑖 𝛼) ≪ 𝑋1+𝜖 (𝑞−1 + 𝑋 −1 + 𝑞𝑋 −𝑘 ) ≪ 𝑋1+𝜖 (𝐻𝑋 −𝛿 + 𝑋 −1 + 𝑋 −𝛿 ) ,

whence

1−𝑘 +𝜖
sup |𝑓(𝑐𝑖 𝛼)| ≪ 𝑋1−𝛿2 .
𝛼∈𝑚𝛿

As such, when 𝑠 ≥ 2𝑘 + 1,

1 𝑠−2𝑘
𝑘 𝑘 1−𝑘 +𝜖 𝑘 −𝑘+𝜖
∫ |𝑓(𝑐𝑖 𝛼)|𝑠 𝑑𝛼 ≤ ( sup |𝑓(𝑐𝑖 𝛼)|) 𝑠−2 ∫ |𝑓(𝑐𝑖 𝛼)|2 𝑑𝛼 ≪ (𝑋1−𝛿2 ) 𝑋2
𝑚𝛿 α∈mδ 0

−𝑘
≪ 𝑋 𝑠−𝑘−𝛿2 .

And so, by the discussion at the beginning,

−𝑘
∫ 𝑓(𝑐1 𝛼) … 𝑓(𝑐𝑠 𝛼) 𝑑𝛼 ≪ 𝑋 𝑠−𝑘−𝛿2 .
𝑚𝛿

It then follows that

−𝑘
∫ 𝑓(𝑐1 𝛼) … 𝑓(𝑐𝑠 𝛼) 𝑑𝛼 = 𝑂 (𝑋 𝑠−𝑘−𝛿2 ) = 𝑜(𝑋 𝑠−𝑘 ).
𝑚𝛿

This completes our discussion of the contribution from the Minor Arcs. We remark that since
1
𝑁𝜙 (𝑋) = ∫0 𝑓(𝑐1 𝛼) … 𝑓(𝑐𝑠 𝛼) 𝑑𝛼

= ∫ 𝑓(𝑐1 𝛼) … 𝑓(𝑐𝑠 𝛼) 𝑑𝛼 + ∫ 𝑓(𝑐1 𝛼) … 𝑓(𝑐𝑠 𝛼) 𝑑𝛼 ,

𝑀𝛿 𝑚𝛿

4
it remains to estimate the contribution from the Major Arcs.

2.2 The Contribution from the Major Arcs

In order to deal with the Major Arcs, we need some additional notations. Write

𝑎𝑟 𝑘 𝑋
𝑆(𝑞, 𝑎) = ∑𝑞𝑟=1 𝑒( ) and 𝑣(𝛽) = ∫−𝑋 𝑒(𝛽𝛾 𝑘 ) 𝑑𝛾.
𝑞

Moreover, we also denote

𝑄𝑋 −𝑘
𝐽(𝑄) = ∫ 𝑣(𝑐1 𝛽) … 𝑣(𝑐𝑠 𝛽) 𝑑𝛽,
−𝑄𝑋 −𝑘

𝑄 𝑞 𝑠

𝑆(𝑄) = ∑ ∑ ∏(𝑞 −1 𝑆(𝑞, 𝑐𝑖 𝑎)).

𝑞=1 𝑎=1,gcd(𝑎,𝑞)=1 𝑖=1

Lemma 2.2.1. We first claim that for 𝛼 ∈ ℝ, 𝑎 ∈ ℤ, and 𝑞 ∈ ℕ, one has

𝑎
𝑓(𝛼) − 𝑞 −1 𝑆(𝑞, 𝑎)𝑣 (𝛼 − 𝑞 ) ≪ 𝑞 + 𝑋 𝑘 |𝑞𝛼 − 𝑎|.

It suffices to show that this holds for

𝑋
𝑓(𝛼) = ∑1≤𝑥≤𝑋 𝑒(𝛼𝑥 𝑘 ) and 𝑣(𝛽) = ∫0 𝑒(𝛽𝛾 𝑘 ) 𝑑𝛾.

Indeed, by breaking the summand into arithmetic progression modulo 𝑞, we have that

𝑞
𝑎
∑ 𝑒(𝛼𝑥 𝑘 ) = ∑ ∑ 𝑒 ((𝛽 + ) (𝑦𝑞 + 𝑟)𝑘 )
𝑞
1≤𝑥≤𝑋 𝑟=1 1−𝑟 ≤𝑦≤ 𝑋−𝑟
𝑞 𝑞

𝑞
𝑎𝑟 𝑘
= ∑ 𝑒( ) ∑ 𝑒(𝛽(𝑦𝑞 + 𝑟)𝑘 ).
𝑞 1−𝑟 𝑋−𝑟
𝑟=1 ≤𝑦≤
𝑞 𝑞

5
Note that for a differentiable function 𝐹 on [𝑎, 𝑏] with 𝑎 < 𝑏, one obtains

1
2
|𝑒(𝐹(𝑧)) − ∫ 𝑒(𝐹(𝑧 + 𝜂)) 𝑑𝜂 | ≤ sup |𝑒(𝐹(𝑧 + 𝜂)) − 𝑒(𝐹(𝑧))|
1 1
− |𝜂|≤
2 2

≪ sup |𝐹 ′ (𝑧 + 𝜂)|.
1
|𝜂|≤
2

Using this approximation, we may deduce that

𝑋−𝑟
𝑞
∑ 𝑒(𝛽(𝑦𝑞 + 𝑟)𝑘 ) − ∫ 𝑒(𝛽(𝑧𝑞 + 𝑟)𝑘 ) 𝑑𝑧
𝑟
1−𝑟 𝑋−𝑟 −
≤𝑦≤ 𝑞
𝑞 𝑞

𝑋
≪ 1+ sup |𝑘𝛽𝑞(𝑞𝑧 + 𝑟)𝑘−1 |
𝑞 0≤𝑧≤𝑋
𝑞

≪ 1 + 𝑋 𝑘 |𝛽|.

We remark that the error incorporated into the right hand side accounts for the initial and final

half-intervals within the integral on the left hand side. Now, by substituting the last relation into

the equation at the beginning, we yield

𝑞 𝑋−𝑟
𝑎𝑟 𝑘 𝑞
𝑓(𝛼) = ∑ 𝑒 ( ) (∫ 𝑒(𝛽(𝑧𝑞 + 𝑟)𝑘 ) 𝑑𝑧 + 𝑂(1 + 𝑋 𝑘 |𝛽|)).
𝑞 −
𝑟
𝑟=1 𝑞

Therefore,

𝑞 𝑋−𝑟
𝑎𝑟 𝑘 𝑞
𝑓(𝛼) − ∑ 𝑒 ( )∫ 𝑒(𝛽(𝑧𝑞 + 𝑟)𝑘 )𝑑𝑧 ≪ 𝑞 + 𝑋 𝑘 |𝑞𝛽|.
𝑞 −
𝑟
𝑟=1 𝑞

The left hand side is equal to

6
 𝑎
𝑓(𝛼) − 𝑞 −1 𝑆(𝑞, 𝑎)𝑣 (𝛼 − ),
𝑞

by a change of variable 𝛾 = 𝑧𝑞 + 𝑟, which completes the proof of the lemma.

Lemma 2.2.2. One has

∫ 𝑓(𝑐1 𝛼) … 𝑓(𝑐𝑠 𝛼) 𝑑𝛼 = 𝐽(𝑋 𝛿 )𝑆(𝑋 𝛿 ) + 𝑜(𝑋 𝑠−𝑘 ).

𝑀𝛿

Recall that by Lemma 2.2.1, whenever ∈ ℝ, 𝑎 ∈ ℤ, and 𝑞 ∈ ℕ, one has

𝑎
𝑓(𝛼) − 𝑞 −1 𝑆(𝑞, 𝑎)𝑣 (𝛼 − ) ≪ 𝑞 + 𝑋 𝑘 |𝑞𝛼 − 𝑎|.
𝑞

𝑎
Define 𝑓̃𝑖 (𝛼) = 𝑞 −1 𝑆(𝑞, 𝑐𝑖 𝑎)𝑣 (𝑐𝑖 (𝛼 − 𝑞 )) when

𝛼 ∈ 𝑀𝛿 (𝑞, 𝑎) ⊆ 𝑀_𝛿

and 0 otherwise. Then it follows that

sup |𝑓(𝑐𝑖 𝛼) − 𝑓̃𝑖 (𝛼)| ≪𝑐 𝑋 2𝛿 .

𝛼∈𝑀𝛿

This implies that

sup |𝑓(𝑐1 𝛼) … 𝑓(𝑐𝑠 𝛼) − 𝑓̃1 (𝛼) … 𝑓̃𝑠 (𝛼)| ≪ 𝑋 𝑠−1+2𝛿 .

𝛼∈𝑀𝛿

We may therefore deduce that

∫ 𝑓(𝑐1 𝛼) … 𝑓(𝑐𝑠 𝛼) 𝑑𝛼 − ∫ 𝑓̃1 (𝛼) … 𝑓̃𝑠 (𝛼) 𝑑𝛼 ≪ 𝑋 𝑠−1+2𝛿 ⋅ 𝜇(𝑀𝛿 )

𝑀𝛿 𝑀𝛿

≪ 𝑋 𝑠−𝑘+(5𝛿−1) = 𝑜(𝑋 𝑠−𝑘 ).

7
In here, 𝜇(⋅) denotes the usual Lebesgue measure on the real line. One can easily check that

∫ 𝑓̃1 (𝛼) … 𝑓̃𝑠 (𝛼) 𝑑𝛼 = 𝐽(𝑋 𝛿 )𝑆(𝑋 𝛿 ).

𝑀𝛿

The conclusion then follows.

Before proceeding further, we need a technical lemma

Lemma 2.2.3. Consider the complete singular integral and the complete singular series

∞
𝐽 = ∫ 𝑣(𝑐1 𝛽) … 𝑣(𝑐𝑠 𝛽) 𝑑𝛽,
−∞

∞ 𝑞 𝑠

𝑆= ∑ ∑ ∏(𝑞 −1 𝑆(𝑞, 𝑐𝑖 𝑎)).

𝑞=1 𝑎=1,gcd(𝑎,𝑞)=1 𝑖=1

Then when 𝑠 ≥ 2𝑘 + 1, one has that

1≪𝑆≪1 and 𝐽 = 𝜎∞ 𝑋 𝑠−𝑘 ,

in which 𝜎∞ = lim+ (2𝜂)−1 𝑀∞ (𝜂) where 𝑀∞ (𝜂) is the volume of the subset of [−1,1]𝑠 defined
𝜂→0

by the inequality |𝜙(𝝃)| < 𝜂.

The proof for this is quite technical, which involves a lot of Fourier analysis. Therefore, we will

only outline the main ideas for the proof. For the first part, one can show that

𝑆= ∏ 𝜎(𝑝),
𝑝 𝑝𝑟𝑖𝑚𝑒𝑠

where

𝜎(𝑝) = ∑ 𝐴(𝑝ℎ )
ℎ≥0

8
in which

𝑞 𝑠

𝐴(𝑝ℎ ) = ∑ ∏(𝑞 −1 𝑆(𝑞, 𝑐𝑖 𝑎)).

𝑎=1,gcd(𝑎,𝑞)=1 𝑖=1

We can show that ∏𝜎(𝑝) converges absolutely with 𝜎(𝑝) > 0 for all primes 𝑝 and there exists a

natural number 𝐶(𝑠, 𝑘, 𝑐) ≔ 𝐶 having the property that

1
< ∏ 𝜎(𝑝) < 3/2,
2
𝑝≥𝐶

whence

1 ≪ 𝑆 ≪ 1.

For the second part, one can show that 𝐽 is absolutely convergent. Moreover, let us define

∞
𝐼 = ∫ 𝑣1 (𝑐1 𝛽) … 𝑣𝑠 (𝑐𝑠 𝛽) 𝑑𝛽,
−∞

where

1
𝑣𝑖 (𝛽) = ∫ 𝑒(𝛽𝛾 𝑘 ) 𝑑𝛾.
−1

Then in particular, 𝐽 = 𝐼𝑋 𝑠−𝑘 . Furthermore, one can also show that

𝐼 = lim+ (2𝜂)−1 𝑀∞ (𝜂) = 𝜎∞ .

𝜂→0

Finally, we can show that 𝜎∞ > 0.

Now, observe that when 𝑠 ≥ 2𝑘 + 1, by Lemma 2.2.2. and Lemma 2.2.3., it follows that

129
 ∫ 𝑓(𝑐1 𝛼) … 𝑓(𝑐𝑠 𝛼) 𝑑𝛼 = 𝐽(𝑋 𝛿 )𝑆(𝑋 𝛿 ) + 𝑜(𝑋 𝑠−𝑘 )
𝑀𝛿

= 𝑆𝐽 + 𝑜(𝑋 𝑠−𝑘 )

= 𝜎∞ 𝑋 𝑠−𝑘 ∏ 𝜎(𝑝) + 𝑜(𝑋 𝑠−𝑘 ).

𝑝

2.3 The Overall Contribution

Finally, by the analysis on the Minor Arcs in section 2.1 and the Major Arcs in section 2.2

respectively,

1
𝑁𝜙 (𝑋) = ∫ 𝑓(𝑐1 𝛼) … 𝑓(𝑐𝑠 𝛼) 𝑑𝛼
0

= ∫ 𝑓(𝑐1 𝛼) … 𝑓(𝑐𝑠 𝛼) 𝑑𝛼 + ∫ 𝑓(𝑐1 𝛼) … 𝑓(𝑐𝑠 𝛼) 𝑑𝛼

𝑀𝛿 𝑚𝛿

= 𝜎∞ 𝑋 𝑠−𝑘 ∏ 𝜎(𝑝) + 𝑜(𝑋 𝑠−𝑘 ).

𝑝

As such,

lim 𝑁𝜙 (𝑋) = ∞.
𝑋→∞

Therefore, the equation 𝜙(𝒙) = 𝑐1 𝑥1𝑘 + ⋯ + 𝑐𝑠 𝑥𝑠𝑘 = 0 has a non-trivial integral solution, which

completes our discussion.

10
3.0 Conclusion

In conclusion, the Circle Method is an extremely powerful tool, which assists us in answering

seemingly difficult questions such as the solubility of a Diophantine equation of the form

𝜙(𝒙) = 0. It provides sharp bounds, which were then used in estimating the number of solutions

to such an equation. This proves to be critical in many circumstances in Analytic Number Theory

where one needs to obtain sharp bounds for certain quantities, one of which is the quantity

𝑁𝜙 (𝑋) above. This report illustrates one specific instance of the Circle Method being utilized in

Analytic Number Theory.

11
References

T. D. Wooley, Arithmetic Harmonic Analysis, 2020 (2020).

T. D. Wooley, New estimates for smooth Weyl sums, J. London Math. Soc. 51 (1995), 1-13.

T. D. Wooley, On the local solubility of Diophantine systems, Compositio Math. 111 (1998),
149-165.

T. D. Wooley, The asymptotic formula in Waring's problem, Int. Math. Res. Not. IMRN 2012
(2012), no. 7, 1485{1504.

R. C. Vaughan and T. D. Wooley, Further improvements in Waring's problem, Acta Math. 174
(1995), no. 2, 147-240.

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