The distribution of genera among quadratic spaces over global fields

Abstract

SynopsisFor a Hasse domain R in a global field F, the distribution of genera of R-lattices with specified invariants among the nonisometric quadratic spaces over F which contain them is studied. It is shown that such genera are equally distributed for spaces of dimension 2, but that this is not generally the case for spaces of dimension exceeding 2. Theresult in the binary case yields an extension of a dimension exceeding 2. The result in the binary case yields an extension of a theorem of Gauss.