Quartic, octic residues and Lucas sequences (Q1011674)

Let \(p\equiv 1\pmod 4\) be a prime of the form \(p=x^2+{(a^2+ b^2)y^2}\), with \(a,b,x,y\) integers. The author gives expressions for the quartic Jacobi symbol and uses them to determine \(((b+\sqrt{a^2+ b^2})/2)^{(p-1)/4}\pmod p\), and to establish congruences, modulo \(p\), for certain terms of Lucas sequences depending on \(p, a, b\). We give just one example of the many results contained in this paper. It involves the Lucas sequence \((U_n(b,c))\) defined, for \(b, c\) integers, by \(U_0(b,c)=0\), \(U_1(b,c)=1\) and \(U_{n+1}(b,c) = b U_n(b,c) - c U_{n-1}(b,c)\) for \(n \geq 1\). It states that if \(p \equiv 3\pmod 8\) is such that \(p =x^2 +2y^2\), with \(x, y\) integers, then we have \[ U_{p+1\over 4} (2, -1) \equiv {p- (-1)^{(y^2 -1)/8}\over 2} \pmod p. \] This establishes a conjecture made in a previous paper of the author [Rocky Mt. J. Math. 33, No. 3, 1123--1145 (2003; Zbl 1076.11009)] of Lucas sequences modulo primes. The proofs are quite computational and only involve a modest amount of conceptual machinery. The present paper ends with a section containing 22 conjectures.