On totally positive units of real holomorphy rings (Q1320038)

The following theorem is proved: Let \(f,g\in\mathbb{R}[X]\) be of the same degree without real zeros such that \(f/g\) is positive over all \(\mathbb{R}\). Then \(f/g\) can be written in the form \[ f/g= (f_ 1/g_ 1)^ 2+ (f_ 2/g_ 2)^ 2+ (f_ 3/g_ 3)^ 2, \] where again \(\deg f_ i= \deg g_ i\) (or \(f_ i=0\)). The author shows a much more general theorem from which the above statement follows: Given a positive integer \(n\), every totally positive unit of the real holomorphy ring \(H(F)\) of a formally real field \(F\) is a sum of \(2n\)th powers of totally positive units in \(H(F)\). If \(n=1\), the number of the required summands is bounded by the Pythagoras number of \(F\) plus 1.