Optimal strong approximation for quadrics over $\mathbb{F}_q[t]$

Abstract

Suppose $q$ is a fixed odd prime power, $F(\vec{x})$ is a non-degenerate quadratic form over $\mathbb{F}_q[t]$ of discriminant $\Delta$ in $d\geq 5$ variables $\vec{x}$, and $f,g\in\mathbb{F}_q[t]$, $\boldsymbol{\lambda}\in\mathbb{F}_q[t]^d$. We show that whenever $\text{deg} f\geq (4+\varepsilon)\text{deg} g+O_{\varepsilon,F}(1)$, $\gcd(\Delta^{\infty},fg)=O(1)$, and the necessary local conditions are satisfied, we have a solution $\vec{x}\in\mathbb{F}_q[t]^d$ to $F(\vec{x})=f$ such that $\vec{x}\equiv\boldsymbol{\lambda}\bmod g$. For $d=4$, we show that the same conclusion holds if we instead have $\text{deg} f\geq (6+\varepsilon)\text{deg} g+O_{\varepsilon,F}(1)$. This gives us a new proof (independent of the Ramanujan conjecture over function fields proved by Drinfeld) that the diameter of any $k$-regular Morgenstern Ramanujan graphs $G$ is at most $(2+\varepsilon)\log_{k-1}|G|+O_{\varepsilon}(1)$. In contrast to the $d=4$ case, our result is optimal for $d\geq 5$. Our main new contributions are a stationary phase theorem over function fields for bounding oscillatory integrals, and a notion of anisotropic cones to circumvent isotropic phenomena in the function field setting.