On the separation of basic semialgebraic sets by polynomials (Q1104369)

Let \({\mathbb{A}}^ n(R)\) denote the n-dimensional affine space over the real closed field \(R\). We say that two sets \(A\) and \(B\) contained in \({\mathbb{A}}^ n(R)\) are separated by a function \(f: {\mathbb{A}}^ n(R)\to R\) if \(f>0\) on A and \(f<0\) on B. According to a theorem of Mostowski every two disjoint, closed semialgebraic subsets o connection that \textit{M. A. Reichert} in Math. Comput. 46, 637-658 (1986; Zbl 0605.14028) has constructed elliptic curves E over quadratic fields k having torsion groups \(E_{tor}(k)\cong {\mathbb{Z}}/N{\mathbb{Z}}\) for 11\(\leq N\leq 18\), \(N\neq 17\).]