On the set of integral solutions of the Pell equation in number fields (Q2490647)

Consider the set of solutions \(C_K^d=\{(x,y)\in {\mathcal O}_K^2: x^2 -dy^2=1\}\), where \(K\) is a number field, \({\mathcal O}_K\) its ring of integers and \(d\in {\mathcal O}_K \setminus\{0\}\). By introducing the operation \(\times\) on \(C_K^d\) defined by \((x_1,y_1)\times (x_2,y_2)= (x_1x_2+dy_1y_2, x_2y_1+x_1y_2)\) the set \(C_K^d\) turns into an Abelian group. The purpose of the author is to describe the structure of this group. Let \(\rho(d)\) be the number of real positive embeddings of \(d\), and \((r_1,r_2)\) the signature of \(K\). Then the main result of the paper is \(C_K^d\simeq C_j\times\mathbb Z^{\rho(d)+r_2}\) if \(\sqrt{d}\not\in K\) and \(C_K^d\simeq C_j\times\mathbb Z^{r_1+r_2-1}\) otherwise, where \(C_j\) is the cyclic group with exactly \(j\) elements and \(j=4\) is \(\sqrt{-d}\in {\mathcal O}_K^*\) and \(j=2\) otherwise. The idea of the proof is to construct an isomorphism between \(C_K^d\) and a suitable subgroup of \({\mathcal O}_K^*\).