Theorem. Finite-field partition functions [fdip-008O]

What takes the place of a Gaussian partition function when field values lie in a finite field? Let \(p\) be an odd prime and let \(e(t)=\exp (2\pi i t/p)\) for the representative of \(t\in \mathbb F_p\) in \(\{0,\ldots ,p-1\}\). For a symmetric \(n\times n\) matrix \(Q\) over \(\mathbb F_p\), define \[Z_p(Q)=\sum _{x\in \mathbb F_p^n}e(x^TQx).\] The exponent is the full quadratic form \(x^TQx\), not half of it. The sum is a complex number. It is not a probability.

Write \(\bigl (\frac {a}{p}\bigr )\) for the Legendre symbol, and \[g=\sum _{t\in \mathbb F_p}e(t^2).\] If \(\det Q\neq 0\) in \(\mathbb F_p\), then \[Z_p(Q)=\Bigl (\frac {\det Q}{p}\Bigr )g^n,\qquad g^2=\Bigl (\frac {-1}{p}\Bigr )p.\] In particular, when \(n\) is divisible by \(4\), \[Z_p(Q)=\Bigl (\frac {\det Q}{p}\Bigr )p^{n/2},\] an ordinary integer. If a coordinate split has \(Q_{UU}\) invertible, with Schur complement \(S\) and \(B=-Q_{UU}^{-1}Q_{UR}\) as in the Wick state, then for every retained vector \[\sum _{x_U}e(x^TQx)=Z_p(Q_{UU})\,e(x_R^TSx_R).\] The same block factorization gives \(\det Q=\det Q_{UU}\det S\), so the Legendre symbol of the determinant factors as a product.

The identity \(\det Q=\det Q_{UU}\det S\) is the finite-field form of the block factorization used for the quadratic center characters. It does not prove that rational character identity.

For a symmetric \(n\times n\) matrix over \(\mathbb F_p\), define the signed discriminant \(d_{\pm }(Q)=(-1)^{\frac {n(n-1)}{2}}\det Q\) in \(\mathbb F_p\). If \(\det Q\neq 0\), then \[Z_p(Q)=\Bigl (\frac {d_{\pm }(Q)}{p}\Bigr )g^{\varepsilon }p^{m},\] where \(n=2m+\varepsilon \) and \(\varepsilon \) is \(0\) or \(1\). When \(4\) divides \(n\), one has \(\varepsilon =0\) and \(d_{\pm }(Q)=\det Q\), so this is the power stated above.

Now suppose \(\det Q=0\), and let \(r\) be the rank of \(Q\). The same diagonalization, which does not require a nonzero determinant, produces an invertible change of variables to \(\operatorname {diag}(a_1,\ldots ,a_r,0,\ldots ,0)\) with every \(a_i\neq 0\). In the new coordinates the last \(n-r\) basis vectors span the kernel. Then \[Z_p(Q)=p^{n-r}Z_p(Q'),\] where \(Q'=\operatorname {diag}(a_1,\ldots ,a_r)\). If \(r=0\), the original form is zero and \(Z_p(Q)=p^n\). If \(r\ge 1\), the signed evaluation on \(Q'\) gives \[Z_p(Q)=p^{n-r}\Bigl (\frac {d_{\pm }(Q')}{p}\Bigr )g^{\varepsilon '}p^{m'},\] with \(r=2m'+\varepsilon '\) and \(\varepsilon '\) equal to \(0\) or \(1\).

Suppose a coordinate split has \(Q_{UU}\) invertible, with Schur complement \(S\), and write \(n_U\) and \(n_R\) for the two block sizes. Then \(Z_p(Q)=Z_p(Q_{UU})Z_p(S)\), and \(d_{\pm }(Q)=(-1)^{n_Un_R}d_{\pm }(Q_{UU})d_{\pm }(S)\). The sign is \(+1\) when \(n_U\) or \(n_R\) is even.

On the massive four-cycle, \(n=4\) and \(\det Q=45\), so \(d_{\pm }(Q)=\det Q\), because the exponent \(\frac {4\cdot 3}{2}\) equals \(6\). For an odd prime that does not divide \(45\), \(Z_p(Q)=\bigl (\frac {45}{p}\bigr )p^2\). Since \(45=9\cdot 5\) and \(9\) is a square, \(\bigl (\frac {9}{p}\bigr )=1\), and the value equals \(\bigl (\frac {5}{p}\bigr )p^2\).

Characteristic \(2\) is outside the argument, because both the polarization step and the change of variables divide by \(2\). The kernel dimension \(n-r\) records the rank drop of \(Q\) itself. Different domains separate the primes at which a chosen elimination block stays invertible from the primes at which a trace ratio stays regular; those loci are not this kernel. This section gives no Euler product and no comparison with the real normalizer.