English

The generalized Fermat equation with exponents 2, 3, n

Number Theory 2019-06-17 v3

Abstract

We study the Generalized Fermat Equation x2+y3=zpx^2 + y^3 = z^p, to be solved in coprime integers, where p7p \ge 7 is prime. Using modularity and level lowering techniques, the problem can be reduced to the determination of the sets of rational points satisfying certain 2-adic and 3-adic conditions on a finite set of twists of the modular curve X(p)X(p). We first develop new local criteria to decide if two elliptic curves with certain types of potentially good reduction at 2 and 3 can have symplectically or anti-symplectically isomorphic pp-torsion modules. Using these criteria we produce the minimal list of twists of X(p)X(p) that have to be considered, based on local information at 2 and 3; this list depends on pmod24p \bmod 24. Recent results on mod pp representations with image in the normalizer of a split Cartan subgroup allow us to reduce the list further in some cases. Our second main result is the complete solution of the equation when p=11p = 11, which previously was the smallest unresolved pp. One relevant new ingredient is the use of the `Selmer group Chabauty' method introduced by the third author in recent work, applied in an Elliptic Curve Chabauty context, to determine relevant points on X0(11)X_0(11) defined over certain number fields of degree 12. This result is conditional on GRH, which is needed to show correctness of the computation of the class groups of five specific number fields of degree 36. We also give some partial results for the case p=13p = 13.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1703.05058,
  title  = {The generalized Fermat equation with exponents 2, 3, n},
  author = {Nuno Freitas and Bartosz Naskrecki and Michael Stoll},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1703.05058},
  year   = {2019}
}

Comments

40 pages. v3: changes/improvements in several places, including some corrections to Tables 1 and 2; main results unchanged. There is now code available that checks the computations in Sections 3, 5, and 8 in addition to Section 7. Accepted for publication by Compositio Math

R2 v1 2026-06-22T18:46:06.103Z