Counting flags of primitive lattices

Abstract

We count flags of primitive lattices, which are objects of the formwhere every Λ (i) is a primitive lattice in Z n . The counting is with respect to two different natural height functions, allowing us to give a new proof of the Manin conjecture for flag varieties over the rational numbers. We deduce the equidistribution of rational points in flag varieties, as well as the equidistribution of the shapes of the successive quotient lattices Λ (i) /Λ (i−1) . In doing so, we generalize previous work of Schmidt, as well as our own, on counting primitive lattices of rank d < n.