On the largest element in \(D(n)\)-quadruples (Q2334360)

For a nonzero integer \( n \), a set of distinct nonzero integers \( \{a_1, \ldots, a_m\} \) such that \( a_i a_j+n \) is a perfect square for all \( 1\le i< j\le m \) is called a \( D(n) \)-\( m \)-\textit{tuple} or a \textit{Diophantine} \(m\)-\textit{tuple} with the \( D(n) \) property. The most studied case is \( n=1 \) and \( D(1) \)-\(m\)-tuples are called Diophantine \( m \)-tuples. Fermat found the first Diophantine quadruple, \(\{1, 3, 8, 120\}\). \textit{A. Baker} and \textit{H. Davenport} [Q. J. Math., Oxf. II. Ser. 20, 129--137 (1969; Zbl 0177.06802)] proved that the set \(\{1, 3, 8\}\) can be extended to a Diophantine quadruple only by adding \(120\) to the set. The first author of this paper in [J. Reine Angew. Math. 566, 183--214 (2004; Zbl 1037.11019)], proved that there are no Diophantine sextuples and that there are at most finitely many Diophantine quintuples. Furthermore, the first author proposed the following conjecture in [AIP Conf. Proc. 976, 58--61 (2008; Zbl 1141.11014)]. Conjecture 1. If a nonzero integer \(n\) is not a perfect square, then there exist only finitely many \(D(n)\)-quadruples. Motivated by Conjecture 1, in the paper under review the authors consider the following question. For given integer \(n\) which is not a perfect square, what can be said about the largest element in a \(D(n)\)-quadruple? In particular, the question how large it can be (compared with \(|n|\)) is closely related with Conjecture 1. On the other hand, the question how small it can be (again compared with \(|n|\)) makes sense also in the case when n is a perfect square. Since \(\{a, b, c, d\}\) is a \(D(n)\)-quadruple if and only if \(\{-a, -b, -c, -d\}\) has the same property, without loss of generality they assume that \(\max\{|a|, |b|, |c|, |d|\} = d\). Their main results are collected in the following theorem. Theorem 2. Let \(\delta, \varepsilon\) be real numbers such that \(2/5\le \delta \le 3\) and \(\varepsilon > 0\). Then there exist an integer \(n\) which is not a perfect square and a \(D(n)\)-quadruple \(\{a, b, c, d\}\) such that \begin{align*} \left|\dfrac{\log(\max\{|a|, |b|, |c|, |d|\})}{\log |n|} - \delta\right|< \varepsilon. \end{align*} The authors consider \(D(n)\)-quadruples, where \(n\) is not a perfect square, with large elements and construct family of quadruples with \(d\) of order of magnitude \(|n|^3\). They also consider \(D(n)\)-quadruples with small elements and construct family of quadruples with \(d\) of order of magnitude \(|n|^{2/5} \). Since elements of both families of quadruples are polynomials in one variable, a standard construction with \(D(n)\)-quadruples finishes the proof of Theorem 2.