arXiv subjects
Publications and source records attributed to Nuno Freitas.
Let $\ell \ne 3$ be a prime. We show that there are only finitely many cyclic number fields $F$ of degree $\ell$ for which the unit equation $$λ+ μ= 1, \qquad λ,~μ\in \mathcal{O}_F^\times$$ has solutions. Our result is effective. For example, we deduce that the only cyclic quintic number field for which the unit equation has solutions is $\mathbb{Q}(ζ_{11})^+$.
In a recent work the authors prove the effective asymptotic Fermat's Last Theorem for the infinite family of fields $\mathbb{Q}(ζ_{2^{r+2}})^+$ where $r \ge 0$. A crucial step in their proof is the following conjecture of Kraus. Let $K$ be a number field having odd narrow class number and a unique prime $λ$ above $2$. Then there are no elliptic curves defined over $K$ with conductor $λ$ and a $K$-rational point of order $2$. In this note we give a new elementary proof of Kraus' conjecture that makes use only of basic facts about elliptic curves, Tate curves and Tate modules.
We describe a systematic investigation into the existence of congruences between the mod $p$ torsion modules of elliptic curves defined over $\mathbb{Q}$, including methods to determine the symplectic type of such congruences. We classify the existence and symplectic type of mod $p$ congruences between twisted elliptic curves over number fields, giving global symplectic criteria that apply in situations where the available local methods may fail. We report on the results of applying our methods for all primes $p\ge7$ to the elliptic curves in the LMFDB database, which currently includes all elliptic curves of conductor less than ${500000}$. We also show that while such congruences exist for each $p\le17$, there are none for $p \geq 19$ in the database, in line with a strong form of the Frey-Mazur conjecture.
Let $F$ be a number field and $\mathcal{O}_F$ its ring of integers. We use Chevalley's ambiguous class number formula to give a criterion for the non-existence of solutions to the unit equation $λ+ μ= 1$, $λ, μ\in \mathcal{O}_F^\times$. This is then used to strengthen a criterion for the asymptotic Fermat's Last Theorem due to Freitas and Siksek.
Let $p \ge 5$ be a prime and let $\mathbb{Q}_{n,p}$ denote the $n$-th layer of the cyclotomic $\mathbb{Z}_p$-extension of $\mathbb{Q}$. We show that $\mathbb{Q}_{n,p}$ has no exceptional units. We use this to prove the effective asymptotic Fermat's Last Theorem over $\mathbb{Q}_{n,p}$ for all $n \ge 1$ and all primes $p \ge 5$ that are non-Wieferich, i.e. $2^{p-1} \not \equiv 1 \pmod{p^2}$. The effectivity in our result builds on recent work of Thorne proving modularity of elliptic curves over $\mathbb{Q}_{n,p}$.
We study the Generalized Fermat Equation $x^2 + y^3 = z^p$, to be solved in coprime integers, where $p \ge 7$ 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 $X(p)$. 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 $p$-torsion modules. Using these criteria we produce the minimal list of twists of $X(p)$ that have to be considered, based on local information at 2 and 3; this list depends on $p \bmod 24$. Recent results on mod $p$ 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 $p = 11$, which previously was the smallest unresolved $p$. 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 $X_0(11)$ 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 $p = 13$.
Recent results of Freitas, Kraus, Sengun and Siksek, give sufficient criteria for the asymptotic Fermat's Last Theorem to hold over a specific number field. Those works in turn build on many deep theorems in arithmetic geometry. In this paper we combine the aforementioned results with techniques from class field theory, the theory of p-groups and p-extensions, Diophantine approximation and linear forms in logarithms, to establish the asymptotic Fermat's Last Theorem for many infinite families of number fields, and for thousands of number fields of small degree. For example, we prove the effective asymptotic Fermat's Last Theorem for the infinite family of fields $\mathbb{Q}(ζ_{2^r})^+$.
Let $\ell$ and $p \geq 3$ be distinct prime numbers. Let $E/\mathbb{Q}_{\ell}$ be an elliptic curve with $p$-torsion module $E_p$. Let $\mathbb{Q}_{\ell}(E_p)$ be the $p$-torsion field of $E$. We provide a complete description of the degree of the extension $\mathbb{Q}_{\ell}(E_p)/\mathbb{Q}_{\ell}$. As a consequence, we obtain a recipe to determine the discriminant ideal of the extension $\mathbb{Q}_{\ell}(E_p)/\mathbb{Q}_\ell$ in terms of standard information on $E$.
In this paper, we sharpen earlier work of the first author, Luca and Mulholland, showing that the Diophantine equation $$ A^3+B^3 = q^αC^p, \, \, ABC \neq 0, \, \, \gcd (A,B) =1, $$ has, for "most" primes $q$ and suitably large prime exponents $p$, no solutions. We handle a number of (presumably infinite) families where no such conclusion was hitherto known. Through further application of certain {\it symplectic criteria}, we are able to make some conditional statements about still more values of $q$, a sample such result is that, for all but $O(\sqrt{x}/\log x)$ primes $q$ up to $x$, the equation $$ A^3 + B^3 = q C^p. $$ has no solutions in coprime, nonzero integers $A, B$ and $C$, for a positive proportion of prime exponents $p$.
Let $p$ be a prime number. In the early 2000s, it was proved that the Fermat equations with coefficients \[3x^p + 8y^p + 21z^p =0\quad \text{ and } \quad 3x^p + 4y^p + 5z^p=0 \] do not admit non-trivial solutions for a set of exponents $p$ with Dirichlet density ${1/4}$ and ${1/8}$, respectively. In this note, using a recent criterion to decide if two elliptic curves over $\mathbb{Q}$ with certain types of additive reduction at 2 have symplectically isomorphic $p$-torsion modules, we improve these densities to ${3/8}$.
We prove a diophantine result on generalized Fermat equations of the form $x^p + y^p = z^r$ which for the first time requires the use of Frey abelian varieties of dimension $\geq 2$ in Darmon's program. For that, we provide an irreducibility criterion for the mod $\mathfrak{p}$ representations attached to certain abelian varieties of $\text{GL}_2$-type over totally real fields.
We prove that the Fermat-type equation $x^3 + y^3 = z^p$ has no solutions $(a,b,c)$ satisfying $abc \ne 0$ and $\gcd(a,b,c)=1$ when $-3$ is not a square mod~$p$. This improves to approximately $0.844$ the Dirichlet density of the set of prime exponents to which the previous equation is known to not have such solutions. For the proof we develop a criterion of independent interest to decide if two elliptic curves with certain type of potentially good reduction at 2 have symplectically or anti-symplectically isomorphic $p$-torsion modules.
Let E be an elliptic curve over a real quadratic field K and F/K a totally real finite Galois extension. We prove that E/F is modular.
Using modularity, level lowering, and explicit computations with Hilbert modular forms, Galois representations and ray class groups, we show that for $3 \le d \le 23$ squarefree, $d \ne 5$, $17$, the Fermat equation $x^n+y^n=z^n$ has no non-trivial solutions over the quadratic field $\mathbb{Q}(\sqrt{d})$ for $n \ge 4$. Furthermore, we show for $d=17$ that the same holds for prime exponents $n \equiv 3$, $5 \pmod{8}$.
We prove that all elliptic curves defined over real quadratic fields are modular.
Let K be a totally real Galois number field and let A be a set of elliptic curves over K. We give sufficient conditions for the existence of a finite computable set of rational primes P such that for p not in P and E in A, the representation on E[p] is irreducible. Our sufficient conditions are often satisfied for Frey elliptic curves associated to solutions of Diophantine equations; in that context, the irreducibility of the mod p representation is a hypothesis needed for applying level-lowering theorems. We illustrate our approach by improving on an existing result for Fermat-type equations of signature (13, 13, p).
Let $K$ be a totally real field. By the asymptotic Fermat's Last Theorem over $K$ we mean the statement that there is a constant $B_K$ such that for prime exponents $p>B_K$ the only solutions to the Fermat equation $a^p + b^p + c^p = 0$ with $a$, $b$, $c$ in $K$ are the trivial ones satisfying $abc = 0$. With the help of modularity, level lowering and image of inertia comparisons we give an algorithmically testable criterion which if satisfied by $K$ implies the asymptotic Fermat's Last Theorem over $K$. Using techniques from analytic number theory, we show that our criterion is satisfied by $K = \mathbb{Q}(\sqrt{d})$ for a subset of $d$ having density $5/6$ among the squarefree positive integers. We can improve this to density 1 if we assume a standard "Eichler-Shimura" conjecture.
Let $K_i$ be a number field for all $i \in \mathbb{Z}_{> 0}$ and let $\mathcal{E}$ be a family of elliptic curves containing infinitely many members defined over $K_i$ for all $i$. Fix a rational prime $p$. We give sufficient conditions for the existence of an integer $i_0$ such that, for all $i > i_0$ and all elliptic curve $E \in \mathcal{E}$ having good reduction at all $\mathfrak{p} \mid p$ in $K_i$, we have that $E$ has good ordinary reduction at all primes $\mathfrak{p} \mid p$.