Prime powers dividing products of consecutive integer values of \(x^{2^n}+1\) (Q2282164)

\textit{J. Cilleruelo} [J. Number Theory 128, No. 8, 2488--2491 (2008; Zbl 1213.11057)] proved that if \(m>3\) is an integer then there exists a prime number \(p\) dividing \(A(m)=(1^2+1)(2^2+1)\cdots (m^2+1)\) such that \(p^2\nmid A(m)\). Consequently, \(A(m)\) is a perfect power only for \(m=3\) for which \(A(3)=10^2\). Since then this result was generalized by several authors. The paper under review proposes such a generalization with the factor \(x^2+1\) replaced \(x^{2^n}+1\) for some fixed integer \(n\ge 1\). Setting \(P_{m,n}=(1^{2^n}+1)(2^{2^n}+1)\cdots (m^{2^n}+1)\), the authors prove that if \(n\ge 2\) and \(m>\max\{10^{12}, 4^{n+1}\}\), then \(P_{m,n}\) has a prime factor \(p\) which appears with exponent at most \(n2^{n-1}\) in the factorization of \(P_{m,n}\). When \(n=2\), they are able to remove the condition that \(m> 10^{12}\) concluding that \(P_{m,2}\) is never a perfect power \(y^q\) of some integer \(y\) of exponent \(q\ge 5\). The proofs use sieve methods (explicit estimates for the number of primes in arithmetic progressions up to some upper bound), as well as arithmetic considerations in the cyclotomic field \({\mathbb Q}(e^{2\pi i/2^{n+1}})\).