Thue equations and the method of Chabauty-Coleman. (Q1608565): Difference between revisions

Let \(F(x,y)\in \mathbb{Z}[x,y]\) be a homogeneous polynomial of degree \(n\geq 3\), coprime to \(y\). Assume that the coefficients of \(F(x,y)\) are coprime and \(F(x,1)\) has no repeated factor. In 1909, Thue showed that the equation \(F(x,y)=h\), where \(h\) is a nonzero integer, has finitely many solutions \((x,y) \in\mathbb{Z}^2\). We denote by \(N(F,h)\) the cardinality of the set \[ \{(x,y)\in \mathbb{Z}^2/F(x,y)=h\quad\text{and gcd}(x,y)=1\}. \] Erdős, Stewart and Tijdeman asked if there is a bound for \(N(F,h\)) in terms of \(h\) only. The main purpose of this interesting paper is to give a partial answer of this problem. More precisely, if the genus of the curve defined by the equation \(F(x,y)=h\) is smaller than the rank of its Jacobian over \(\mathbb{Q}\), the authors prove, using the method of Chabauty-Coleman, that \(N(F,h)\leq 2n^3-2n-3\).