Glossary of Arithmetic and Diophantine Geometry - H

H

Hasse principle

The Hasse principle states that solubility for a global field is the same as solubility in all relevant local fields. One of the main objectives of Diophantine geometry is to classify cases where the Hasse principle holds. Generally that is for a large number of variables, when the degree of an equation is held fixed. The Hasse principle is often associated with the success of the Hardy–Littlewood circle method. When the circle method works, it can provide extra, quantitative information such as asymptotic number of solutions. Reducing the number of variables makes the circle method harder; therefore failures of the Hasse principle, for example for cubic forms in small numbers of variables (and in particular for elliptic curves as cubic curves) are at a general level connected with the limitations of the analytic approach.

Hasse–Weil L-function

A Hasse–Weil L-function, sometimes called a global L-function, is an Euler product formed from local zeta-functions. The properties of such L-functions remain largely in the realm of conjecture, with the proof of the Taniyama–Shimura conjecture being a breakthrough. The Langlands philosophy is largely complementary to the theory of global L-functions.

Height function

A height function in Diophantine geometry quantifies the size of solutions to Diophantine equations. Classical or naive height is defined in terms of ordinary absolute value on homogeneous coordinates: it is now usual to take a logarithmic scale, that is, height is proportional to the "algebraic complexity" or number of bits needed to store a point. Heights were initially developed by André Weil and D. G. Northcott. Innovations around 1960 were the Néron–Tate height and the realisation that heights were linked to projective representations in much the same way that ample line bundles are in pure geometry.

Hilbertian fields

A Hilbertian field K is one for which the projective spaces over K are not thin sets in the sense of Jean-Pierre Serre. This is a geometric take on Hilbert's irreducibility theorem which shows the rational numbers are Hilbertian. Results are applied to the inverse Galois problem. Thin sets (the French word is mince) are in some sense analogous to the meagre sets (French maigre) of the Baire category theorem.