Properties of solutions to Pell's equation over the polynomial ring
Abstract
In the classical theory, a famous by-product of the continued fraction expansion of quadratic irrational numbers is the solution to Pell's equation for . It is well-known that, once an integer solution to Pell's equation exists, we can use it to generate all other solutions . Our object of interest is the polynomial version of Pell's equation, where the integers are replaced by polynomials with complex coefficients. We then investigate the factors of . In particular, we show that over the complex polynomials, there are only finitely many values of for which has a repeated root. Restricting our analysis to , we give an upper bound on the number of "new" factors of of degree at most . Furthermore, we show that all "new" linear rational factors of can be found when , and all "new" quadratic rational factors when .
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.2101.12180,
title = {Properties of solutions to Pell's equation over the polynomial ring},
author = {Nikoleta Kalaydzhieva},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2101.12180},
year = {2021}
}