Ternary form equations (Q1900867)

Let \(K\) be an algebraic number field, \(S\) a finite set of places of \(K\), including all infinite ones, and denote by \({\mathcal O}_{{\mathcal S}}\) the ring of \(S\)-integers of \(K\). Let \(T\in K[X, Y, Z]\) be a ternary form, which may be reducible but has no multiple components. Let \(C\) be the projective curve defined by \(T(X, Y, Z)= 0\). Denote by \(d\) the degree of \(T\) and \({\mathcal T}\) the fractional \({\mathcal O}_{{\mathcal S}}\)-ideal generated by the coefficients of \(T\). Analogous to the well-known Thue-Mahler equations involving binary forms, the author considers ternary form equations of type (2) \((T(x, y, z))= {\mathcal T}\cdot (x, y, z)^d\) with \(x, y, z\in {\mathcal O}_S\). The solutions are considered up to projective equivalence. Following an introductory Section with several questions and conjectures, the second Section includes many useful technical propositions. The main results are contained in Section 3. Considering all possible cases, the author proves that under mild conditions the solution of (2) lies Zariski dense, if \(\deg(C)\leq 3\). Section 4 gives partial results in the notoriously difficult case \(\deg(C)\geq 4\). Section 5 deals with the set of exceptional cuves corresponding to a given curve \(C\). The paper is illustrated with several useful remarks and interesting examples.