Hilbert-Kunz multiplicity of quadrics via Ehrhart theory

Abstract

We show that the Hilbert-Kunz multiplicity of the d-dimensional non-degenerate quadric hypersurface of characteristic p > 2 is a rational function of p composed from the Ehrhart polynomials of integer polytopes. In consequence, we prove that the Hilbert-Kunz multiplicity of quadrics of fixed characteristic is a decreasing function of dimension and recover results of Trivedi and Gessel-Monsky on the behaviour of said Hilbert-Kunz multiplicity as a function of characteristic.