Indefinite binary quadratic forms with Markov ratio exceeding 9 (Q1409614): Difference between revisions

The term ``Markov ratio'' of the title is introduced in this paper. It is the square of \(\mu(f) := \sqrt{D}/m(f)\), the ratio studied by Markov in his original 19th century Mathematische Annalen papers (with his name there transliterated as Markoff) -- here \(D\) is the discriminant of the indefinite binary form \(f\) and \(m(f)\) is the minimum absolute value of the form evaluated on ordered pairs of non-zero integers. The authors also introduce a notion of ``R-form''; an R-form \(f = ax^{2}+ b x y+ cz^{2}\) has in particular \(a = m(f)\). In the authors' vocabulary, Markov showed that the forms of Markov ratio below 9 are of discriminant \(D = 9 a^{2}-4\), and furthermore that these arise from the solutions of \(x^{2}+y^{2}+ z^{2} = 3 x y z\). The authors note that certain solutions are given by triples of Fibonacci numbers and give the corresponding \(R\)-forms. This leads them to various families of forms. In particular, they give two families of forms of discriminant \(D = 9 a^{2}+4\) and ask whether this exhausts all such.