Twist and generalized Chebyshev polynomials (Q1385022)

In the article [\textit{F. Hazama}, Indag. Math., New Ser. 8, 387-397 (1997; Zbl 0894.11008)], the author investigated a possible generalization of the Chebyshev polynomials, \(T_n(x)\), \(U_n(x)\) \((n=0,1,\dots)\), focusing on the diophantine equation satisfied by them: \[ T_n(x)^2- (x^2-1) U_{n-1}(x)^2= 1,\quad n= 1,2,\dots\;. \] The crucial idea of [loc. cit.] was to regard this as a defining equation of a twist of a conic by itself. As a natural generalization, he considered a twist of a conic by an arbitrary hyperelliptic curve, and obtained a family of diophantine equations which have solutions in a certain one-parameter family of polynomials in one variable. In the present article, the author proceeds to higher dimensional cases and considers the twist of a double cover of the affine space of dimension \(N\geq 1\) by itself. As a result, he finds certain families of polynomials in \(N\) variables, called the generalized Chebyshev polynomials, which enjoy a lot of fundamental properties similar to the ones the usual Chebyshev polynomials do, for example, multiplicativity, orthogonality, and extremality. The purpose of this article is to announce these and other properties. Details will appear elsewhere [cf. JP J. Algebra Number Theory Appl. 2, No. 1, 61--82, 83--100 (2002; Zbl 1059.11025), and ibid. 2, No. 2, 137--152 (2002; Zbl 1059.11026).