$p$-numerical semigroups of Pell triples

Abstract

For a nonnegative integer $p$, the $p$-numerical semigroup $S_p$ is defined as the set of integers whose nonnegative integral linear combinations of given positive integers $a_1,a_2,\dots,a_\kappa$ with $\gcd(a_1,a_2,\dots,a_\kappa)=1$ are expressed in more than $p$ ways. When $p=0$, $S=S_0$ is the original numerical semigroup. The largest element and the cardinality of $\mathbb N_0\backslash S_p$ are called the $p$-Frobenius number and the $p$-genus, respectively. Their explicit formulas are known for $\kappa=2$, but those for $\kappa\ge 3$ have been found only in some special cases. For some known cases, such as the Fibonacci and the Jacobsthal triplets, similar techniques could be applied and explicit formulas such as the $p$-Frobenius number could be found. In this paper, we give explicit formulas for the $p$-Frobenius number and the $p$-genus of Pell numerical semigroups $\bigl(P_i(u),P_{i+2}(u),P_{i+k}(u)\bigr)$. Here, for a given positive integer $u$, Pell-type numbers $P_n(u)$ satisfy the recurrence relation $P_n(u)=u P_{n-1}(u)+P_{n-2}(u)$ ($n\ge 2$) with $P_0(u)=0$ and $P_1(u)=1$. The $p$-Ap\'ery set is used to find the formulas, but it shows a different pattern from those in the known results, and some case by case discussions are necessary.