Counting pairs of polynomials whose product is a cube (Q6184608)

Let \(\mathbb{F}_q\) be the finite field with \(q\) elements and \(\mathbb{F}_q[t]\) be the polynomial ring over \(\mathbb{F}_q\). We denote \(\mathcal{M}\) by the set of monic polynomials in \(\mathbb{F}_q[t]\) and \(\mathcal{M}_n\) by the set of monic polynomials with degree \(n\). Besides, we use \(\mathcal{F}_k\) to denote the set of \(k\)-th powers in \(\mathcal{M}\) i.e. \[ \mathcal{F}_k=\lbrace f \in \mathcal{M}: \exists g\in \mathcal{M}, f=g^k \rbrace . \] For \(n\geq 1\) and \(k\geq 2\), define \[ L_k(q,n)= \mid \lbrace (f_1,f_2)\in \mathcal{M}^2_n: f_1 f_2 \in \mathcal{F}_k\rbrace \mid. \] In the paper under review, the authors give asymptotic formulas for \(L_k(q,n)\), \(k=2, 3\) in the \(n\)-aspect for fixed \(q\) or in the \(q\)-aspect for fixed \(n\). This is a polynomial analogue of a result for integers due to \textit{R. de la Bretèche} et al. [Int. Math. Res. Not. 2021, No. 22, 17140--17169 (2021; Zbl 1483.11209)].