arXiv subjects
Publications and source records attributed to Colin Faverjon.
We establish a Liouville-type inequality for the values, at a common nonzero algebraic point, of arbitrary Mahler Mq-functions. As an application, we prove that no such value is a Liouville number, or even a U -number. This solves a long-standing problem in the field.
The principal aim of this paper is to establish a purity theorem for Mahler functions that is reminiscent of famous purity theorems for G-functions by D. and G. Chudnovsky and for E-functions (and, more generally, for holonomic arithmetic Gevrey series) by Y. Andr{\'e}. Our approach is based on a preliminary study of independent interest of the nature of the solutions of Mahler equations. Roughly speaking, we prove a reduction result for Mahler systems, implying that any Mahler equation admits a complete basis of solutions formed of what we call generalized Mahler series. These are sums involving Puiseux series, Hahn series of a very special type and solutions of inhomogeneous equations of order 1 with constant coefficients. In the light of B. Adamczewski, J. P. Bell and D. Smertnig's recent height gap theorem, we introduce a natural filtration on the set of generalized Mahler series according to the arithmetic growth of the coefficients of the Puiseux series involved in their decomposition. This filtration has five pieces. Our purity theorem states that the membership of a generalized Mahler series to one of the three largest pieces of this filtration propagates to any other generalized Mahler series solution of its minimal Mahler equation. We also show that this statement does not extend to the smallest two pieces.
Mahler equations arise in a wide range of contexts including the study of finite automata, regular sequences, algebraic series over Fp(z), and periods of Drinfeld modules. Introduced a century ago by K. Mahler to study the transcendence of certain complex numbers, they have recently been the subject of several works establishing a deep connection between such transcendence properties and the nature of their solutions. While numerous studies have investigated these solutions, existing algorithms can only compute them in specific rings: rational functions, power series, Puiseux series, or Hahn series. This paper solves the problem by providing an algorithm that computes a complete basis of solutions for any Mahler equation, along with a decomposition of each solution over the field of Puiseux series. Along the way, we describe an algorithm that computes a fundamental matrix of solutions for any Mahler system.
Though Mahler equations have been introduced nearly one century ago, the study of their solutions is still a fruitful topic for research. In particular, the Galois theory of Mahler equations has been the subject of many recent papers. Nevertheless, long is the way to a complete understanding of relations between solutions of Mahler equations. One step along this way is the study of singularities. Mahler equations with a regular singularity at 0 have rather "nice" solutions: they can be expressed with the help of Puiseux series and solutions of equations with constant coefficients. In a previous paper, the authors described an algorithm to determine whether an equation is regular singular at 0 or not. Exploiting information from the Frobenius method and Newton polygons, we improve this algorithm by significantly reducing its complexity, by providing some simple criterion for an equation to be regular singular at 0, and by extending its scope to equations with Puiseux coefficients.
In this article, we establish a Liouville-type inequality for polynomials evaluated at the values of arbitrary Siegel E-functions at non-zero algebraic points. Additionally, we provide a comparable result within the framework of Mahler M -functions.
This note is an addendum to the paper ''Mahler's method in several variables and finite automata''. It strengthens part (i) of Theorem 1.1 of the aforementioned paper.
We prove that all algebraic relations over $\overline{\mathbb Q}$ between values of Siegel's $E$-functions at some non-zero algebraic point have a functional source, in that they can be obtained as degeneration of $\delta$-algebraic relations over $\overline{\mathbb Q}(z)$ between the functions at stake. We also obtain an analogous result when considering Mahler's $M_q$-functions. In this case, the so-called $\sigma_q$-algebraic relations substitute for the $\delta$-algebraic relations. We also give several consequences of this result concerning some descent phenomena. The point of view we adopt here reveals some striking similarities between the theory of $E$-functions and the one of $M_q$-functions.
In a recent work [3], the authors established new results about general linear Mahler systems in several variables from the perspective of transcendental number theory, such as a multivariate extension of Nishioka's theorem. Working with functions of several variables and with different Mahler transformations leads to a number of complications, including the need to prove a general vanishing theorem and to use tools from ergodic Ramsey theory and Diophantine approximation (e.g., a variant of the $p$-adic Schmidt subspace theorem). These complications make the proof of the main results proved in [3] rather intricate. In this article, we describe our new approach in the special case of linear Mahler systems in one variable. This leads to a new, elementary, and self-contained proof of Nishioka's theorem, as well as of the lifting theorem more recently obtained by Philippon [22] and the authors [1]. Though the general strategy remains the same as in [3], the proof turns out to be greatly simplified. Beyond its own interest, we hope that reading this article will facilitate the understanding of the proof of the main results obtained in [3].
This paper is devoted to the study of the analytic properties of Mahler systems at 0. We give an effective characterisation of Mahler systems that are regular singular at 0, that is, systems which are equivalent to constant ones. Similar characterisations already exist for differential and (q-)difference systems but they do not apply in the Mahler case. This work fills in the gap by giving an algorithm which decides whether or not a Mahler system is regular singular at 0. In particular, it gives an effective characterisation of Mahler systems to which an analog of Schlesinger's density theorem applies.
We develop a theory of linear Mahler systems in several variables from the perspective of transcendence and algebraic independence, which also includes the possibility of dealing with several systems associated with sufficiently independent matrix transformations. Our main results go far beyond the existing literature, also surpassing those of two unpublished preprints the authors made available on the arXiv in 2018. The main new feature is that they apply now without any restriction on the matrices defining the corresponding Mahler systems. As a consequence, we settle several problems concerning expansions of numbers in multiplicatively independent bases. For instance, we prove that no irrational real number can be automatic in two multiplicatively independent integer bases, and we give a new proof and a broad algebraic generalization of Cobham's theorem in automata theory. We also provide a new proof and a multivariate generalization of Nishioka's theorem, a landmark result in Mahler's method.
This is the first part of a work devoted to the study of linear Mahler systems in several variables from the perspective of transcendence and algebraic independence. We prove two main results concerning systems that are regular singular at the origin. Our interest in Mahler's method comes from the possible applications of these results to old problems involving automata theory and which concern the expansion of both natural numbers and real numbers in integer bases. In particular, problems which involve finite automata and base change. Such applications are studied in Part II of this work.
This is the second part of a work devoted to the study of linear Mahler systems in several variables from the perspective of transcendence and algebraic independence. From the lifting theorem obtained in the first part, we first derive a general result, showing that Mahler functions in several variables, associated with transformations having multiplicatively dependent spectral radii, take algebraic independent values at algebraic points provided that these points are sufficiently independent. Then, we focus on applications of this result and of the two main results of Part I of this work. Our main application concerns problems about the representation of natural and real numbers in integer bases involving automata theory. These can be translated in terms of algebraic relations over $\overline{\mathbb Q}$ between values of Mahler functions in one variable. We also apply our results to the algebraic independence of Mahler functions and their specializations, and to the study of the values of Hecke-Mahler series.
This note deals with some effective results in Mahler's method. In a recent work, we used a theorem of Philippon to show that given a Mahler function $f(z)$ in ${\bf k}\{z\}$, where ${\bf k}$ denotes a number field, and an algebraic number $\alpha$ in the domain of holomorphy of $f$, the number $f(\alpha)$ is either transcendental or belongs to ${\bf k}(\alpha)$. We describe here an effective procedure to decide if such a number is transcendental or not. More generally, given several Mahler functions $f_1(z),\cdots,f_r(z)$ and an algebraic number $\alpha$ in the domain of holomorphy of these functions, we show how to effectively determine a basis of the vector space of $\overline{\mathbb Q}$-linear relations between $f_1(\alpha),\cdots,f_r(\alpha)$.
This paper is concerned with Mahler's method. We study in detail the structure of linear relations between values of Mahler functions at algebraic points. In particular, given a field ${\bf k}$, a Mahler function $f(z)\in{\bf k}\{z\}$, and an algebraic number $\alpha$, $0<\vert \alpha\vert <1$, that is not a pole for $f$, we show that one can always determined whether the number $f(\alpha)$ is transcendental or not. In the latter case, we obtain that $f(\alpha)$ belong to the number fields ${\bf k}(\alpha)$. We also consider some consequences of such results to a classical number theoretical problem: the study of sequences of digits of algebraic numbers in an integer (or, more generally, algebraic) base. Our results are based on a theorem of Philippon [31] that we refine. We also simplify his proof.