Squares in arithmetic progression over number fields (Q661962)

The problem of squares forming arithmetic progressions have a long history, going back to the works of Fermat and Euler. So far mainly the integral case has been explored, though there are already results concerning the case where the terms of the progressions are algebraic numbers (see e.g. previous work of the author). In the present paper the problem is considered over a fixed number field \(K\). It is proved that the number of terms in any non-constant arithmetic progression of squares in \(K\) can be bounded, and the bound \(S(d)\) depends only on the degree \(d\) of \(K\). In particular, if \(d=2\) then we have \(S(d)=5\). Furthermore, a similar statement is given for arithmetic progressions of \(k\)th powers in \(K\), where \(k\geq 2\). In this case the upper bound for the lengths of such non-constant progressions depends only on \(d\) and \(k\). To prove the results, the author first reduces the problem to determining all rational points of certain algebraic curves. Then a lower bound is established for the gonality of these curves, from which the bounds for the lengths of the progressions in question are derived. At the end of the paper some generalizations and conjectures are also discussed and proposed.