A \(p\)-adic approach to the Jacobian conjecture (Q2259175)

The authors observe that the standard Jacobian conjecture over \(\mathbb C\) implies the \textit{unimodal conjecture}: if \(R\) is any commutative ring contained in a \(\mathbb Q\)-algebra and \(F:R^n \to R^n\) is a polynomial map satisfying the Keller condition \(\det JF = 1\), then for some \(b \in R^n\), the entries of \(F(b)\) generate the unit ideal. They show conversely that the unimodal conjecture for the \(p\)-adic integers implies the Jacobian conjecture. By results of \textit{A. van den Essen} [Polynomial automorphisms and the Jacobian conjecture. Basel: Birkhäuser (2000; Zbl 0962.14037)], it suffices to prove for Keller maps \(F\) with coefficients in \(\mathbb Z\) that \(F: {\overline {\mathbb Q}}^n \to {\overline {\mathbb Q}}^n\) is injective, but if \(F(a)=F(b)\) for some \(a \neq b \in {\overline {\mathbb Q}}^n\), then the \(\mathbb Z\)-algebra generated by the entries of \(a\) and \(b\) embeds in the \(p\)-adic integers \(\mathbb Z_p\) for almost all primes \(p\), so that \(F: \mathbb Z_p^n \to \mathbb Z_p^n\) is not injective. However if the unimodal conjecture holds for \(\mathbb Z_p\) (or any other PID), the authors prove that a non-injective Keller map leads to a non-injective Keller map with arbitrarily large fibers, which is impossible by a variation on Hensel's lemma [\textit{N. Bourbaki}, Éléments de mathématique. Fasc. XXVIII: Algèbre commutative. Chap. 3: Graduations, filtrations et topologies. Chap. 4: Ideaux premiers associes et décomposition primaire. Paris: Hermann \& Cie (1961; Zbl 0119.03603)]. Their method also shows that the Jacobian conjecture is equivalent to the statement that for almost all primes \(p\) and each Keller map \(F: \mathbb Z_p^n \to \mathbb Z_p^n\), the induced map \({\overline F}: \mathbb F_p^n \to \mathbb F_p^n\) is not the zero map.