English

Smooth solutions to the abc equation: the xyz Conjecture

Number Theory 2011-07-11 v4

Abstract

This paper studies integer solutions to the ABC equation A+B+C=0 in which none of A, B, C has a large prime factor. Set H(A,B, C)= max(|A|,|B|,|C|) and set the smoothness S(A, B, C) to be the largest prime factor of ABC. We consider primitive solutions (gcd(A, B, C)=1) having smoothness no larger than a fixed power p of log H. Assuming the abc Conjecture we show that there are finitely many solutions if p<1. We discuss a conditional result, showing that the Generalized Riemann Hypothesis (GRH) implies there are infinitely many primitive solutions when p>8. We sketch some details of the proof of the latter result.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.0911.4147,
  title  = {Smooth solutions to the abc equation: the xyz Conjecture},
  author = {Jeffrey C. Lagarias and K. Soundararajan},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0911.4147},
  year   = {2011}
}

Comments

21 pages, presented at 26th Journees Arithmetiques, 2009; v2 added new examples 1.2, updated references; v3 changed title, more examples added, notation changes, v4 corrects misprints in Conj. 3.1, Thm. 4.3 statement, 25 pages