An elementary proof of Hilbert's theorem on ternary quartics

In 1888, Hilbert proved that every non-negative quartic form f=f(x,y,z) with real coefficients is a sum of three squares of quadratic forms. His proof was ahead of its time and used advanced methods from topology and algebraic geometry. Up to now, no elementary proof is known. Here we present a completely new approach. Although our proof is not easy, it uses only elementary techniques. As a by-product, it gives information on the number of representations f=p_1^2+p_2^2+p_3^2 of f up to orthogonal equivalence. We show that this number is 8 for generically chosen f, and that it is 4 when f is chosen generically with a real zero. Although these facts were known, there was no elementary approach to them so far.Comment: 26 page

On sign changes of cusp forms and the halting of an algorithm to construct a supersingular elliptic curve with a given endomorphism ring

Chevyrev and Galbraith recently devised an algorithm which inputs a maximal order of the quaternion algebra ramified at one prime and infinity and constructs a supersingular elliptic curve whose endomorphism ring is precisely this maximal order. They proved that their algorithm is correct whenever it halts, but did not show that it always terminates. They did however prove that the algorithm halts under a reasonable assumption which they conjectured to be true. It is the purpose of this paper to verify their conjecture and in turn prove that their algorithm always halts. More precisely, Chevyrev and Galbraith investigated the theta series associated with the norm maps from primitive elements of two maximal orders. They conjectured that if one of these theta series "dominated" the other in the sense that the $n$th (Fourier) coefficient of one was always larger than or equal to the $n$th coefficient of the other, then the maximal orders are actually the same. We prove that this is the case.Comment: 12 page

The representation of integers by positive ternary quadratic polynomials

An integral quadratic polynomial is called regular if it represents every integer that is represented by the polynomial itself over the reals and over the $p$-adic integers for every prime $p$. It is called complete if it is of the form $Q({\mathbf x} + {\mathbf v})$, where $Q$ is an integral quadratic form in the variables ${\mathbf x} = (x_1, \ldots, x_n)$ and ${\mathbf v}$ is a vector in ${\mathbb Q}^n$. Its conductor is defined to be the smallest positive integer $c$ such that $c{\mathbf v} \in {\mathbb Z}^n$. We prove that for a fixed positive integer $c$, there are only finitely many equivalence classes of positive primitive ternary regular complete quadratic polynomials with conductor $c$. This generalizes the analogous finiteness results for positive definite regular ternary quadratic forms by Watson and for ternary triangular forms by Chan and Oh

Some new canonical forms for polynomials

We give some new canonical representations for forms over \cc. For example, a general binary quartic form can be written as the square of a quadratic form plus the fourth power of a linear form. A general cubic form in $(x_1,...,x_n)$ can be written uniquely as a sum of the cubes of linear forms $\ell_{ij}(x_i,...,x_j)$, $1 \le i \le j \le n$. A general ternary quartic form is the sum of the square of a quadratic form and three fourth powers of linear forms. The methods are classical and elementary.Comment: I have spoken about this material under the title "steampunk canonical forms". This is the final revised version which has been accepted by the Pacific Journal of Mathematics. Apart from the usual improvements which come after a thoughtful refereeing, Theorem 1.8 is ne