A fast algorithm to compute cubic fields

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The author develops an algorithm for computing tables of cubic fields which is much faster than those previously known. The key ingredient is a bijection between equivalence classes of primitive irreducible integral binary cubic forms \(F(x,y)= ax^3+ bx^2y+ cxy^2+ dy^3\in\mathbb{Z}[x, y]\) subject to an additional discriminant condition and isomorphism classes of cubic fields \(K\) (which accordingly are generated by a root of \(F(x,1)\)). That idea goes back to \textit{H. Davenport} and \textit{H. Heilbronn} [Proc. R. Soc. Lond., Ser. A 322, 405-420 (1971; Zbl 0212.08101)]. By suitable reduction methods for the real and for the complex case, the author obtains a unique representative \(F(x,y)\) for each equivalence class which can easily be calculated. Besides being fast, this representation of cubic fields \(K\) also gives an explicit integral basis for \(K\) and an easy method for computing all prime ideals of \(K\) above any given prime number \(p\). The author used this method for computing all real cubic fields up to discriminant \(D<10^{11}\) (\(6.7\times 10^9\) fields) and all complex fields with discriminant \(D>-10^{11}\) (\(20.4\times 10^9\) fields) in about one month of computation time on a single workstation. In both cases, a list of the first hundred fields (of smallest absolute discriminant) is presented.




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