Fix positive constants a

1
, a
2
, . . . , a
n
and consider the n-dimensional at torus
obtained from R
n
by identifying points x and y if
x
j
y
j
2a
j
is an integer for
j = 1, . . . , n. This torus has n-dimensional measure a(2)
n
, where we write
a =

n
j=1
a
j
. With the standard Laplacian, it has eigenfunctions e
i

n
j=1
k
j
x
j
a
j
for k = (k
1
, . . . , k
n
) Z
n
with eigenvalues (of ) equal to

n
j=1
_
k
j
a
j
_
2
, so
the eigenvalue counting function is
N(t) = #
_
k Z
n
:
n

j=1
_
k
j
a
j
_
2
t
_
. (1)
Consider also the family of ellipsoids
E
t
=
_
x R
n
:
n

j=1
_
x
j
a
j
_
2
t
_
. (2)
A rst approximation to N(t) is the n-dimensional measure of E
t
, and a
simple calculation using the change of variables a
j
z
j
= x
j
yields
vol
n
(E
t
) =
a
n1
n
t
n/2
, (3)
where
n1
denotes the (n 1)-dimensional measure of the unit sphere in
R
n
. This approximation is in fact the Weyl asymptotic law for the torus. An
extremely challenging problem is to try to understand the dierence.
D(t) = N(t) vol
n
(E
t
) (4)
Here we consider instead the simpler question of understanding the average
value of D(t),
A(R) =
1
R
_
R
0
D(t) dt. (5)
Note that we do not take absolute values of D(t) in the average (5), so that we
allow cancellation of regions where N(t) is larger than vol
n
(E
t
) and regions
where vol
n
(E
t
) is larger than N(t). Thus it is conceivable that A(R) will
show slower growth than D(t). In fact, we will show
A(R) = O(R
n2
2
) as R . (6)
1
Note that when n = 2 this says that A(R) is bounded. It is conjectured that
D(t) = O(t
1
4
+
) (7)
for every > 0 when n = 2. In ref! Bleher shows that t
1/4
D(t) is a
Besicovitch almost periodic function with mean value zero. This result gives
another sense in which the regions where D(t) is positive and negative cancel
out.
Lemma 1. We have
A(R) =

kE
R
R

n
j=1
_
k
j
a
j
_
2
R

a
n1
n
_
n
2
+ 1
_R
n
2
(8)
Proof. Using (3) it is easy to calculate directly that vol
n
(E
t
) contributes

a
n1
n
_
n
2
+ 1
_R
n/2
to A(R). For the contribution from N(t), note that each k E
R
contributes
1 to D(t) for

n
j=1
_
k
j
a
j
_
2
t R, and altogether this yields to sum on the
right side of (8).
Let Q
k
denote the unit cube centered at k:
Q
k
=
_
x R
n
: k
j

1
2
x
j
k
j
+
1
2
for j = 1, . . . , n
_
(9)
and let

E
R
=
_
kE
R
Q
k
. (10)
Note that

E
R
is an approximation to E
R
, and neither one is contained in the
other. Of course vol
n
(

E
R
) = N(R), so D(R) is exactly the dierence of the
volumes of

E
R
and E
R
.
2
Lemma 2. A(R) = A
0
(R) A
1
(R) A
2
(R) for
A
0
(R) =
1
R

kE
R
_
Q
k
_
n

j=1
_
x
j
a
j
_
2

j=1
_
k
j
a
j
_
2
_
dx, (11)
A
1
(R) =
1
R
_
E
R
\

E
R
_
R
n

j=1
_
x
j
a
j
_
2
_
dx, (12)
A
2
(R) =
1
R
_

E
R
\E
R
_
n

j=1
_
x
j
a
j
_
2
R
_
dx. (13)
Proof. Note that we may write A
0
(R) as
1
R

kE
R
_
Q
k
_
R
n

j=1
_
k
j
a
j
_
2
_
dx
1
R

kE
R
_
R
n

j=1
_
x
j
a
j
_
2
_
dx. (14)
The rst term in (14) involves integrals of constants, so it is exactly equal to
the sum on the right side of (8). The second term in (14) is exactly

1
R
_

E
R
_
R
n

j=1
_
x
j
a
j
_
2
_
dx.
But
1
R
_
E
R
_
R
n

j=1
_
x
j
a
j
_
2
_
dx =
a
R
_
|z|R
1/2
(R |z|
2
)dz
=
a
R

n1
_
R
1/2
0
(R r
2
)r
n1
dr
= a
n1
_
1
n

1
n + 2
_
R
n/2
=
a
n1
n
_
n
2
+ 1
_R
n/2
.
Altogether this allows us to transform (8) into
A(R) = A
0
(R)+
1
R
_

E
R
_
R
n

j=1
_
x
j
a
j
_
2
_
dx
1
R
_
E
R
_
R
n

j=1
_
x
j
a
j
_
2
_
dx.
Removing the common region E
R

E
R
from both integrals gives the desired
result.
3
Lemma 3. A
0
(R) is positive, and precisely
A
0
(R) =
_
1
12
n

j=1
1
a
2
j
_
1
R
vol
n

E
R
(15)
Proof. We may split the integrand in (11) into the sum of terms
1
a
2
j
(x
2
j
k
2
j
),
and then the integral reduces to a one-dimensional integral:
_
k
j
+
1
2
k
j

1
2
(x
2
j
k
2
j
)dx
j
=
1
3
_
_
k
j
+
1
2
_
3

_
k
j

1
2
_
3
_
k
2
j
=
1
12
.
Taking the sum over j produces the factor
1
12
_

n
j=1
1
a
2
j
_
, and taking the sum
over k E
R
produces the factor vol
n
(

E
R
).
Theorem 1. There exist constants c
1
, c
2
, such that c
1
R
n2
2
A(R)
c
2
R
n2
2
for large R. Specically, we may choose c
2
=
aw
n1
12n
_

n
j=1
1
a
j
_
+ .
Proof. Since we have seen that A
0
(R) is positive, and A
1
(R) and A
2
(R) are
clearly positive since they involve integrals of positive functions, it suces
to nd upper bounds. Lemma 3 provides the exact formula for A
0
(R) that
may be turned into an upper bound by replacing vol
n

E
R
by vol
n
E
R
given
by (3) at a cost of adding to the bound for large R. Estimates for A
1
(R)
and A
2
(R) are easy. Since we are close to the boundary of E
R
, the integral
of
_
R

n
j=1
_
x
j
a
j
_
2
_
is O(R
1/2
), and the volume of the regions may be
estimated by a multiple of the (n 1)-dimensional measure of the boundary
of E
R
, which gives a factor R
n1
2
.
Although we have very sharp control of A
0
(R), the other terms A
1
(R) and
A
2
(R) are much more variable.
4