Proposition. Higher-rank local spinor norms and square-class counts [fcap-004A]
Proposition. Higher-rank local spinor norms and square-class counts [fcap-004A]
Let \(K\) be a nonarchimedean local field of characteristic different from two, as in Definition [fcap-0044]. Let \(Q\) be nondegenerate on a finite-dimensional \(K\)-space \(V\) with \(\dim _K V\geq 3\). Use \(S=K^{\times }/(K^{\times })^2\), \(\nu _Q\), \(\nu _Q^O\) and \(I_Q\) as in Proposition [fcap-0049]. Every element of \(S\) is the spinor norm of a product of two reflections. Consequently, \[\begin {gathered} \operatorname {im}\nu _Q=\operatorname {im}\nu _Q^O=S,\\ I_Q=|S|. \end {gathered}\] This holds for anisotropic ternary and quaternary forms as well as isotropic forms. The input is the local isotropy theorem: every nondegenerate form of dimension at least five is isotropic [lam2005quadratic, VI.2, Theorem 2.12, pp. 158--159].
Let \(k\) be the residue field, put \(q_0=|k|\), and normalize the additive valuation \(v_K:K^\times \to \mathbb Z\) to be surjective. Set \(e=v_K(2)\). The square-class count is \[|S|=4q_0^e\] by [lam2005quadratic, VI.2, Theorem 2.22, p. 162]. Here \(e=0\) in odd residue characteristic. Over \(\mathbb Q_2\), \(q_0=2\) and \(e=1\), so \(|S|=8\); see also [lam2005quadratic, VI.2, Corollary 2.24(1), p. 163]. Combining this count with Proposition [fcap-0049] gives the following Spin indices; the middle column means odd residue characteristic. \[\begin {array}{c|c|c} Q&\text {odd}&\mathbb Q_2\\ \hline \text {anis. binary}&2&4\\ \text {split binary}&4&8\\ \dim Q\geq 3&4&8 \end {array}\] The rank-zero and rank-one indices remain one. The characteristic restriction is on \(K\); residue characteristic two is included.
For a concrete dyadic contrast, \(x^2+y^2\) is anisotropic over \(\mathbb Q_2\): a nontrivial zero would make \(-1\) a square, but a 2-adic unit square is \(1\) modulo \(8\), whereas \(-1\) is \(7\) modulo \(8\) by the cited Corollary 2.24(1). Its Spin image therefore has index four, although its spinor-norm image has index two in \(S\). For the nondegenerate ternary form \(Q(x,y,z)=xy+z^2\), vectors \((1,c,0)\) and \((1,1,0)\) have values \(c\) and \(1\). Their reflection product realizes \([c]\) for every \(c\in \mathbb Q_2^\times \), and the Spin image has index eight.
The two-reflection assertion and its surjectivity consequence are
TauCeti.QuadraticMap.exists_reflectionPairSpecialOrthogonal_spinorNorm_eq
and
TauCeti.QuadraticMap.spinorNorm_surjective_of_three_le_finrank.
The count is TauCeti.natCard_squareClassGroup, and
the resulting Spin index is
TauCeti.QuadraticMap.index_range_spinToSpecialOrthogonal_of_three_le_finrank.
The reflection and index statements assume finite dimension,
nondegeneracy, invertible two and dimension at least three over a
nonarchimedean local field. The square-class count needs only that
field setting and \(2\ne 0\).