On the exceptional sets of integral quadratic forms

Abstract

A collection $\mathcal S$ of equivalence classes of positive definite integral quadratic forms in $n$ variables is called an $n$-exceptional set if there exists a positive definite integral quadratic form which represents all equivalence classes of positive definite integral quadratic forms in $n$ variables except those in $\mathcal S$. We show that, among other results, for any given positive integers $m$ and $n$, there is always an $n$-exceptional set of size $m$ and there are only finitely many of them.