1
$\begingroup$

I'm studying the theorems used in the paper which explains how the sieve of Atkin works, but I cannot understand a point.

For example, in the paper linked above, theorem 6.2 on page 1028 says that if $n$ is prime then the cardinality of the set which contains all the norm-$n$ ideals in $\mathbf Z[(-1+\sqrt{-3})/2]$ is 2. I don't understand why, and I am not able to relate this result to the quadratic form $3x^2+y^2=n$ used in the proof.

1 Answers 1

1

The main thing is that the norm of $s + t \omega$ is $s^2 + s t + t^2,$ which is a binary form that represents exactly the same numbers as $3x^2 + y^2.$

It is always true that, for an integer $k,$ the form $s^2 + s t + k t^2$ represents a superset of the numbers represented by $x^2 + (4k-1)y^2.$ For instance, with $k=2,$ the form $x^2 + 7 y^2$ does not represent any numbers $2\pmod 4,$ otherwise it and $s^2 + s t + 2 t^2$ agree.

With $k=-1,$ it turns out that $x^2 - 5 y^2$ and $s^2 + s t - t^2$ represent exactly the same integers.

Take $s^2 + s t + k t^2$ with $s = x - y, \; t = 2 y.$ You get $ (x-y)^2 + (x-y)(2y) + k (2y)^2 = x^2 - 2 x y + y^2 + 2 x y - 2 y^2 + 4 k y^2 = x^2 + (4k-1) y^2.$

  • 0
    Ok, I was thinking of $\sqrt{-3}$ because $|2+\sqrt{-3}|=12$.2011-12-19