English

On the equation $f(g(x)) =f(x)h^m(x)$ for composite polynomials

Number Theory 2012-02-03 v1

Abstract

In this paper we solve the equation f(g(x))=f(x)hm(x)f(g(x))=f(x)h^m(x) where f(x)f(x), g(x)g(x) and h(x)h(x) are unknown polynomials with coefficients in an arbitrary field KK, f(x)f(x) is non-constant and separable, degg2\deg g \geq 2, the polynomial g(x)g(x) has non-zero derivative g(x)0g'(x) \ne 0 in K[x]K[x] and the integer m2m \geq 2 is not divisible by the characteristic of the field KK. We prove that this equation has no solutions if degf3\deg f \geq 3. If degf=2\deg f = 2, we prove that m=2m = 2 and give all solutions explicitly in terms of Chebyshev polynomials. The diophantine applications for such polynomials f(x)f(x), g(x)g(x), h(x)h(x) with coefficients in \Q\Q or Z\Z are considered in the context of the conjecture of Cassaign et. al on the values of Louiville's λ\lambda function at points f(r)f(r), r\Qr \in \Q.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1202.0471,
  title  = {On the equation $f(g(x)) =f(x)h^m(x)$ for composite polynomials},
  author = {Himadri Ganguli and Jonas Jankauskas},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1202.0471},
  year   = {2012}
}

Comments

Journal of Australian Math Society to appear