Metaconjugation and Quadratic Forms

Source abstract

We present a quaternionic proof that the quadratic form $t^2+2x^2+5y^2+10z^2$ represents all positive integers, and that the form $t^2+x^2+7y^2+7z^2$ represents all natural numbers which are neither equal to $3 \cdot 7^\ell$ nor equal to $6 \cdot 7^\ell$, for any $\ell \in \mathbb{N}_0$. To do this we introduce a technique that may be useful for other purposes, and that we call "metaconjugation".