On a Conjecture of Sun about sums of restricted squares

Abstract

In this paper, we investigate sums of four squares of integers whose prime factorizations are restricted, making progress towards a conjecture of Sun that states that two of the integers may be restricted to the forms $2^a{3}^b$ and $2^c{5}^d$. We obtain an ineffective generalization of results of Gauss and Legendre on sums of three squares and an effective generalization of Lagrange's four-square theorem.

25 pages