About fifty years ago Mahler proved that if $α>1$ is rational but not an integer and if $0<l<1$ then the fractional part of $α^n$ is $>l^n$ apart from a finite set of integers $n$ depending on $α$ and $l$. Answering completely a question of Mahler we show that the same conclusion holds for all algebraic numbers which are not $d$-th roots of Pisot numbers. By related methods, we also answer a question by Mendes France, characterizing completely the quadratic irrationals $α$ such that the continued fraction of $α^n$ has period length tending to infinity.
A rational triangle is a triangle with rational side lengths. We consider three different families of rational triangles having a fixed side and whose vertices are rational points in the plane. We display a one-to-one correspondence between each family and the set of rational points of an algebraic curve. These algebraic curves are: a curve of genus 0, an elliptic curve, and a genus 3 curve. We study the set of rational points on each of these curves and describe some of its rational points explicitly.
A new algebraic object is introduced - recurrent fractions, which is an n-dimensional generalization of continued fractions. It is used to describe an algorithm for rational approximations of algebraic irrational numbers. Some parametrization for generalized Pell's equations is constructed.
The present paper analyzes the discrepancy of distribution of rational points on general semisimple algebraic group varieties. The results include mean-square, almost sure, and uniform discrepancy estimates with explicit error bounds, which apply to general families of subsets, and are valid at arbitrarily small scales. We also consider an analogue of W. Schmidt's classical theorem, which establishes effective almost sure asymptotic counting of rational solutions to Diophantine inequalities in Euclidean spaces. We formulate and prove a version of it for rational points on the group variety, to…
We relate a previous result of ours on families of Diophantine equations having only trivial solutions with a result on the approximation of an algebraic number by products of rational numbers and units. We compare this approximation with a Liouville type estimate, and with an estimate arising from a lower bound for a linear combination of logarithms.
A rational perfect cuboid is a rectangular parallelepiped whose edges and face diagonals are given by rational numbers and whose space diagonal is equal to unity. Its existence is equivalent to the existence of a perfect cuboid with all integer edges and diagonals. Finding such a cuboid or proving its non-existence is an old unsolved problem. Recently, based on a symmetry approach, the equations of a perfect cuboid were transformed to factor equations. The factor equations turned out to be solvable and, being solved, have led to a pair of inverse problems. Our efforts in the present paper are …
We introduce the notion of "quasi-symmetric" polynomials, which is a generalization of the notion of symmetry, and is particularly suited to the setting of polynomial rings over finite fields. The properties of this new class of functions are studied. It is then shown that quasi-symmetric polynomials are very useful in splitting rational places in extensions of function fields over finite fields and thus may be used in constructing extensions with many rational places.
It is possible to talk about the étale homotopy equivalence of rational points on algebraic varieties by using a relative version of the étale homotopy type. We show that over $p$-adic fields rational points are homotopy equivalent in this sense if and only if they are étale-Brauer equivalent. We also show that over the real field rational points on projective varieties are étale homotopy equivalent if and only if they are in the same connected component. We also study this equivalence relation over number fields and prove that in this case it is finer than the other two equivalence relations …
This paper deals with two main topics related to Diophantine approximation. Firstly, we show that if a point on an algebraic variety is approximable by rational vectors to a sufficiently large degree, the approximating vectors must lie in the topological closure of the rational points on the variety. In many interesting cases, in particular if the set of rational points on the variety is finite, this closure does not exceed the set of rational points on the variety itself. This result enables easier proofs of several known results as special cases. The proof can be generalized in some way and …
By restricting the variables running over various (possibly different) subfields, we introduce the notion of a partial zeta function. We prove that the partial zeta function is rational in an interesting case, generalizing Dwork's well known rationality theorem. In general, the partial zeta function is probably not rational. But a theorem of Faltings says that the partial zeta function is always nearly rational.
Let S be a sphere in R^n such that S\capQ^n\neq\emptyset and let Cl denote the closure operator in the Euclidean topology of R^n. If the center of S is in Q^n, then Cl(S\capQ^n) is S, as is easily proved. If the center of S is not in Q^n, then what is Cl(S\capQ^n)? This question, which was answered partially in the author's paper [Proc. Japan Acad. Ser. A Math. Sci. 80 (2004), no. 7, 146--149], is answered completely in this paper by representing Cl(S\capQ^n) in terms of the group of Q-automorphisms of the algebraic closure of Q(γ_1,...,γ_n) in C, where γ_1,...,γ_n denote the coordinates of th…
This paper contains an algebraic constructive and self-contained account of the invariance rule of the digital root under division for an arbitrary natural basis representation. Both the cases of repeating and non-repeating fractionals are treated. In the preliminary section some known results such as the uniqueness in the representation of a fraction are discussed for both the finite and infinite bases cases. Simple examples are introduced throughout the text for illustrative purposes.
We prove a quantitative version of a result of Furstenberg and Deligne stating that the the diagonal of a multivariate algebraic power series with coefficients in a field of positive characteristic is algebraic. As a consequence, we obtain that for every prime $p$ the reduction modulo $p$ of the diagonal of a multivariate algebraic power series $f$ with integer coefficients is an algebraic power series of degree at most $p^{A}$ and height at most $A^2p^{A+1}$, where $A$ is an effective constant that only depends on the number of variables, the degree of $f$ and the height of $f$. This answers …
In this paper we give a general upper bound for the irrationality exponent of algebraic Laurent series with coefficients in a finite field. Our proof is based on a method introduced in a different framework by Adamczewski and Cassaigne. It makes use of automata theory and, in our context, of a classical theorem due to Christol. We then introduce a new approach which allows us to strongly improve this general bound in many cases. As an illustration, we give few examples of algebraic Laurent series for which we are able to compute the exact value of the irrationality exponent.
The study of the birational properties of algebraic $k$-tori began in the sixties and seventies with work of Voskresenkii, Endo, Miyata, Colliot-Thélène and Sansuc. There was particular interest in determining the rationality of a given algebraic $k$-tori. As rationality problems for algebraic varieties are in general difficult, it is natural to consider relaxed notions such as stable rationality, or even retract rationality. Work of the above authors and later Saltman in the eighties determined necessary and sufficient conditions to determine when an algebraic torus is stably rational, respec…
A dynamically affine map is a finite quotient of an affine morphism of an algebraic group. We determine the rationality or transcendence of the Artin-Mazur zeta function of a dynamically affine self-map of $\mathbb{P}^1(k)$ for $k$ an algebraically closed field of positive characteristic.
The number of rational points of a plane non-singular algebraic curve X defined over a finite field is computed, provided that the generic point of X is not an inflexion and that X is Frobenius non-classical with respect to conics.
We prove Manin's conjecture concerning the distribution of rational points of bounded height, and its refinement by Peyre, for wonderful compactifications of semi-simple algebraic groups over number fields. The proof proceeds via the study of the associated height zeta function and its spectral expansion.
For a rational map $ϕ: X \to G$ from a normal algebraic variety $X$ to a commutative algebraic group $G$, we define the modulus of $ϕ$ as an effective divisor on $X$. We study the properties of the modulus. This work generalizes the known theories for curves to higher dimensional varieties.
Let $Z$ be a projective geometrically integral algebraic variety. This paper is concerned with estimating the number of rational points on $Z$ which have height at most $B$. The bounds obtained are uniform in varieties of fixed degree and fixed dimension, and are essentially best possible for varieties of degree at least six.
A collection of varieties satisfies uniform potential density if each of them contains a dense subset of rational points after extending its ground field by a bounded degree. In this paper, we prove that uniform potential density holds for connected algebraic groups of a fixed dimension over fields of characteristic zero as well as elliptic K3 surfaces over number fields.
Let G be a commutative algebraic group over Q. Let Gamma be a subgroup of G(Q) contained in the union of the compact subgroups of G(Q_p). We formulate a guess for the dimension of the closure of Gamma in G(Q_p), and show that its correctness for certain tori is equivalent to Leopoldt's conjecture.
We consider smooth projective curves C/$\mathbb{F}$ over a finite field and their symmetric squares $C^{(2)}$. For a global function field $K/\mathbb{F}$, we study the $K$-rational points of $C^{(2)}$. We describe the adelic points of $C^{(2)}$ surviving Frobenius descent and how the $K$-rational points fit there. Our methods also lead to an explicit bound on the number of $K$-rational points of $C^{(2)}$ satisfying an additional condition. Some of our results apply to arbitrary constant subvarieties of abelian varieties, however we produce examples which show that not all of our stronger conc…
We extend results of Videla and Fukuzaki to define algebraic integers in large classes of infinite algebraic extensions of Q and use these definitions for some of the fields to show the first-order undecidability. We also obtain a structural sufficient condition for definability of the ring of integers over its field of fractions. In particular, we show that the following propositions hold. (1) For any rational prime $q$ and any positive rational integer $m$, algebraic integers are definable in any Galois extension of Q where the degree of any finite subextension is not divisible by $q^{m}$. (…
Let $X$ be a variety defined over a number field and $f$ be a dominant rational self-map of $X$ of infinite order. We show that $X$ admits many algebraic points which are not preperiodic under $f$. If $f$ were regular and polarized, this would follow immediately from the theory of canonical heights, but it does not work very well for rational self-maps. We provide an elementary proof following an argument by Bell, Ghioca and Tucker (arxiv:0808.3266).
We analyze the structure of a large class of connected algebraic rings over an algebraically closed field of positive characteristic using Greenberg's perfectization functor. We then give applications to rigidity problems for representations of Chevalley groups, recovering, in particular, a rigidity theorem of Seitz.
We prove that for any of a wide class of elliptic surfaces $X$ defined over a number field $k$, if there is an algebraic point on $X$ that lies on only finitely many rational curves, then there is an algebraic point on $X$ that lies on no rational curves. In particular, our theorem applies to a large class of elliptic $K3$ surfaces, which relates to a question posed by Bogomolov in 1981. We apply our results to construct an explicit algebraic point on a $K3$ surface that does not lie on any smooth rational curves.
The number A(q) shows the asymptotic behaviour of the quotient of the number of rational points over the genus of non-singular absolutely irreducible curves over a finite field Fq. Research on bounds for A(q) is closely connected with the so-called asymptotic main problem in Coding Theory. In this paper, we study some generalizations of this number for non-irreducible curves, their connection with A(q) and its application in Coding Theory.
Let f : X --> X be a dominant rational map of a projective variety defined over a global field, let d_f be the dynamical degree of f, and let h_X be a Weil height on X relative to an ample divisor. We prove that h_X(f^n(P)) << (d_f + e)^n h_X(P), where the implied constant depends only on X, h_X, f, and e. As applications, we prove a fundamental inequality a_f(P) \le d_f for the upper arithmetic degree and we construct canonical heights for (nef) divisors. We conjecture that a_f(P) = d_f whenever the orbit of P is Zariski dense, and we describe some cases for which we can prove our conjecture.
Cazanave has identified the algebraic homotopy class of a rational function of $1$ variable with an explicit nondegenerate symmetric bilinear form. Here we show that Hurwitz's proof of a classical result about real rational functions essentially gives an alternative proof of the stable part of Cazanave's result. We also explain how this result can be interpreted in terms of the residue pairing and that this interpretation relates the result to the signature theorem of Eisenbud, Khimshiashvili, and Levine, showing that Cazanave's result answers a question posed by Eisenbud for polynomial functi…
We give a description of pairs of complex rational functions $A$ and $U$ of degree at least two such that for every $d\geq 1$ the algebraic curve $A^{\circ d}(x)-U(y)=0$ has a factor of genus zero or one. In particular, we show that if $A$ is not a `generalized Lattès map', then this condition is satisfied if and only if there exists a rational function $V$ such that $U\circ V=A^{\circ l}$ for some $l\geq 1.$ We also prove a version of the dynamical Mordell-Lang conjecture, concerning intersections of orbits of points from $\mathbb P^1(K)$ under iterates of $A$ with the value set $U(\mathbb P^…
We give the complete stably rational classification of algebraic tori of dimensions $4$ and $5$ over a field $k$. In particular, the stably rational classification of norm one tori whose Chevalley modules are of rank $4$ and $5$ is given. We show that there exist exactly $487$ (resp. $7$, resp. $216$) stably rational (resp. not stably but retract rational, resp. not retract rational) algebraic tori of dimension $4$, and there exist exactly $3051$ (resp. $25$, resp. $3003$) stably rational (resp. not stably but retract rational, resp. not retract rational) algebraic tori of dimension $5$. We ma…
Let $\mathbf{x}=(x,y)$. A projective 2-dimensional flow is a solution to a 2-dimensional projective translation equation (PrTE) $(1-z)ϕ(\mathbf{x})=ϕ(ϕ(\mathbf{x}z)(1-z)/z)$, $ϕ:\mathbb{C}^{2}\mapsto\mathbb{C}^{2}$. Previously we have found all solutions of the PrTE which are rational functions. The rational flow gives rise to a vector field $\varpi(x,y)\bullet\varrho(x,y)$ which is a pair of 2-homogenic rational functions. On the other hand, only very special pairs of 2-homogenic rational functions, as vector fields, give rise to rational flows. The main ingredient in the proof of the classif…
