English

On The Partition Regularity of $ax+by = cw^mz^n$

Combinatorics 2023-06-27 v3 Number Theory

Abstract

Csikv\'ari, Gyarmati, and S\'ark\"ozy showed that the equation x+y=z2x+y = z^2 is not partition regular (PR) over N\mathbb{N} and asked if the equation x+y=wzx+y = wz is PR over N\mathbb{N}. Bergelson and Hindman independently answered this question in the positive. We generalize this result by giving a partial classification of the a,b,cZ{0}a,b,c \in \mathbb{Z}\setminus\{0\} and m,nNm,n \in \mathbb{N} for which the equation ax+by=cwmznax+by = cw^mz^n is PR over Z{0}\mathbb{Z}\setminus\{0\}. We show that if m,n2m,n \ge 2, then ax+by=cwmznax+by = cw^mz^n is PR over Z{0}\mathbb{Z}\setminus\{0\} if and only if a+b=0a+b = 0. Next, we show that if nn is odd, then the equation ax+by=cwznax+by = cwz^n is PR over Z{0}\mathbb{Z}\setminus\{0\} if and only if one of ac,bc,\frac{a}{c}, \frac{b}{c}, or a+bc\frac{a+b}{c} is an nnth power in Q\mathbb{Q}. We come close to a similar characterization of the partition regularity of ax+by=cwznax+by = cwz^n over Z{0}\mathbb{Z}\setminus\{0\} for even nn, and we examine some equations whose partition regularity remain unknown, such as 16x+17y=wz816x+17y = wz^8. In order to show that the equation ax+by=cwznax+by = cwz^n is not PR over Z{0}\mathbb{Z}\setminus\{0\} for certain values of a,b,c,a,b,c, and nn, we prove a partial generalization of the criteria of Grunwald and Wang for when αZ\alpha \in \mathbb{Z} is an nnth power modulo every prime pp. In particular, we show that for any odd nn and any α,β,γQ\alpha,\beta,\gamma \in \mathbb{Q} that are not nnth powers, there exist infinitely many primes pNp \in \mathbb{N} for which none of α,β,\alpha,\beta, and γ\gamma are nnth powers modulo pp. Similarly, we show that for any even nn and any α,β,γQ\alpha,\beta,\gamma \in \mathbb{Q} that are not n2\frac{n}{2}th powers, with one not an n4\frac{n}{4}th power if 4n4|n, there exist infinitely many primes pNp \in \mathbb{N} for which α,β,\alpha,\beta, and γ\gamma are not nnth powers modulo pp. Part of the abstract was removed here.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2105.02190,
  title  = {On The Partition Regularity of $ax+by = cw^mz^n$},
  author = {Sohail Farhangi and Richard Magner},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2105.02190},
  year   = {2023}
}

Comments

52 pages originally, 54 pages on arxiv, this version has incorporated the referee's comments and has corrected many typos