English

On a polynomial involving quadratic residues modulo primes

Number Theory 2026-05-12 v3

Abstract

Let pp be an odd prime, and define Gp(x)=k=1(p1)/2(xe2πik2/p).G_p(x)=\prod_{k=1}^{(p-1)/2}\left(x-e^{2\pi i k^2/p}\right). In this paper we study values of Gp(x)G_p(x) at roots of unity via Galois theory, and confirm some previous conjectures. For example, for any primitive tenth root ζ\zeta of unity, we prove that Gp(ζ)={(1){1kp+910: (kp)=1}if p21(mod40),(1){1kp+110: (kp)=1}ζ2if p29(mod40),G_p(\zeta)=\begin{cases}(-1)^{|\{1\le k\le \frac {p+9}{10}:\ (\frac kp)=-1\}|} &\text{if}\ p\equiv21\pmod{40}, \\(-1)^{|\{1\le k\le\frac {p+1}{10}:\ (\frac kp)=-1\}|}\zeta^{2}&\text{if}\ p\equiv 29\pmod{40}, \end{cases} where (kp)(\frac kp) denotes the Legendre symbol.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2605.05200,
  title  = {On a polynomial involving quadratic residues modulo primes},
  author = {Zhi-Wei Sun},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2605.05200},
  year   = {2026}
}

Comments

14 pages. Add Theorem 1.4

R2 v1 2026-07-01T12:53:18.615Z