A new condition equivalent to the Ankeny-Artin-Chowla conjecture (Q1786696)

Let \(p\equiv 1\pmod{4}\) be a prime number and let \(\varepsilon=(t+u\sqrt{p})/2\) be the fundamental unit of \(\mathbb Q(\sqrt{p})\). The Ankeny-Artin-Chowla conjecture states that \(u\not\equiv 0\pmod{p}\). An analogous conjecture for primes \(p\equiv 3\pmod{4}\) is due to Mordell. The main results of this paper are two equivalent conditions for the above conjectures in terms of Lucas polynomials \(L_n(x)\) and Vieta-Lucas polynomials \(L_n^-(x)\), which are defined by \(L_0(x)=L_0^-(x)=2\), \(L_1(x)=L_1^-(x)=x\) and \(L_n(x)=xL_{n-1}(x)+L_{n-2}(x)\), \(L_n^-(x)=xL_{n-1}^-(x)-L_{n-2}^-(x)\) for \(n\geq 2\). More precisely it is shown that the Ankeny-Artin-Chowla conjecture holds if and only if there exists an integer \(c>0\) such that \(a_1=L_p(c)\) is the smallest positive integer solution for \(a\) in the diophantine equation \(a^2+4=p^3b^2\). The result concerning the conjecture by Mordell is very similar, involving \(L_p^-(x)\) instead of \(L_p(x)\).