Reducibility and the Galois group of a parametric family of quintic polynomials (Q2480657)

For the parametric family of quintic polynomials \(f_t(x)=x^5+(t^2-3125)(x-4),\) \(t \in \mathbb{Q},\) the authors show that \(f_t(x)\) is reducible in \(\mathbb{Q}[x]\) if and only if \(t=0.\) For \(t \neq 0,\) they show that the Galois group of \(f_t\) over \(\mathbb{Q}\) is isomorphic to \(D_5\) or \(A_5,\) and they characterize the values of \(t\) for which the Galois group is \(D_5.\) They also demonstrate that there are infinitely many values of \(t \in \mathbb{Q}\) that result in each of the two possible Galois groups. The proof that \(f_t(x)\) is irreducible for \(t \neq 0\) involves showing that reducibility would imply, in two different cases, the existence of a rational point on a certain elliptic curve, which results in a contradiction. The computation of the Galois group is an application of results concerning quintic polynomials from \textit{B. K. Spearman} and \textit{K. S. Williams} [Am. Math. Mon. 101, No. 10, 986--992 (1994; Zbl 0844.12002)].