On the Laxton group (Q2316331)

In the paper under review, the authors study the Laxton group and redefine it in the natural way as follows. Let \(P\) and \(Q\neq 0\) be rational integers. Consider linear recurrence sequences associated to the characteristic polynomial \(f(t):=t^2-Pt+Q\). Namely, they are determined by the linear recurrence \(w_{n+2}=Pw_{n+1}-Qw_n\) and their first rational terms \(w_0\) and \(w_1\). Let \(\theta_1\) and \(\theta_2\) be the roots of \(f(t)\). Assume that \[ D:=\operatorname{disc}(f)=P^2-4Q=(\theta_1-\theta_2)^{2}\neq 0. \] Define an equivalence relation \(\sim^*\) on the set of the linear recurrence sequences. For \(\mathbf{w}=(w_n)\) and \(\mathbf{v}=(v_n)\), we write \(\mathbf{w} \sim^* \mathbf{v}\) if there exists \(\lambda \in \mathbb{Q}^{\times}\) and \(\nu \in \mathbb{Z}\) such that \(w_n=\lambda v_{n+\nu}\) for any \(n\in\mathbb{Z}\). \textit{R. R. Laxton} [Duke Math. J. 36, 721--736 (1969; Zbl 0226.10010); Pac. J. Math. 32, 173--179 (1970; Zbl 0226.10011)] considered the following quotient set using this equivalence relation. \begin{multline*} G^{*}(f):=\left\{(w_n)_{n\in\mathbb{Z}}\mid w_0, w_1\in\mathbb{Q} \text{ with } \Lambda(w_1,w_0)\neq 0, w_{n+2}-Pw_{n+1}+Qw_n=0 \right.\\ \left.\text{ for any } n\in \mathbb{Z}, \text{ and there exists } \nu \in \mathbb{Z} \text{ such that } w_k\in\mathbb{Z} \text{ for any } k\ge \nu \right\}/\sim^*, \end{multline*} where \(\Lambda(w_1, w_0):=w_1^2-Pw_0w_1+Qw_0^2\). Laxton introduced a multiplication on \(G^*(f)\) as follows. For classes \(\mathcal{W}\) and \(\mathcal{V} \in G^*(f)\), let \((w_n)\) and \((v_n)\) be representatives of the classes \(\mathcal{W}\) and \(\mathcal{V}\), respectively. The product \(\mathcal{W}\times \mathcal{V}\) of \(\mathcal{W}\) and \(\mathcal{V}\) is, then, defined by the class of \((u_n)\) with \[ u_n=(AC\theta_1^n-BD\theta_2^{n})/(\theta_1-\theta_2), \] where \(A=w_1-w_0\theta_2\), \(B=w_1-w_0\theta_1\), \(C=v_1-v_0\theta_2\), and \(D=v_1-v_0\theta_1\). \(G^*(f)\) is called the Laxton group. Furthermore, the authors determine the structure of the whole Laxton group, which clarifies Laxton's results on the quotient groups. This definition makes it possible to use the Laxton group to show various properties of rational sequences satisfying a fixed linear recurrence of degree two.