Higher R\'edei reciprocity and integral points on conics

Abstract

Fix an integer $l$ such that $|l|$ is a prime $3$ modulo $4$. Let $d > 0$ be a squarefree integer and let $N_d(x, y)$ be the principal binary quadratic form of $\mathbb{Q}(\sqrt{d})$. Building on a breakthrough of Alexander Smith, we give an asymptotic formula for the solubility of $N_d(x, y) = l$ in integers $x$ and $y$ as $d$ varies among squarefree integers divisible by $l$. As a corollary we give, in case $l > 0$, an asymptotic formula for the event that the Hasse Unit Index of the field $\mathbb{Q}(\sqrt{-l}, \sqrt{d})$ is $2$ as $d$ varies over all positive squarefree integers. We also improve the results of Fouvry and Kl\"uners and recent results of Chan, Milovic and the authors on the solubility of the negative Pell equation. Our main new tool is a generalization of a classical reciprocity law due to R\'edei.