Complete decomposition of Dickson-type polynomials and related Diophantine equations (Q2483159)

A decomposition of a polynomial \(f\in\mathbb{C}[x]\) is a representation \(f= r\circ q\) with some non-constant polynomials \(r,g\in\mathbb{C}[x]\), where the operation is the usual functional composition. The decomposition is called non-trivial if \(\deg r\), \(\deg q> 1\). Two decompositions \(f= r_1\circ q_1\) and \(f= r_2\circ q_2\) are said to be equivalent if there is a linear polynomial \(k\) such that \(r_2= r_1\circ k\) and \(q_2= k^{-1}\circ q_1\). The Dickson-type recursive polynomials over \(\mathbb{R}\) (respectively \(\mathbb{Q}\)) are the polynomials \(f_k\in\mathbb{R}[x]\) (respectively \(\mathbb{Q}[x]\)) defined by the relations \[ f_0(x)= B,\quad f_1(x)= x,\quad f_{n+1}(x)= xf_n(x)- af_{n-1}(x),\quad n\geq 1, \] where \(B\), \(a\in\mathbb{R}\) (respectively \(\mathbb{Q}\)). The main result of the paper under review is that the Dickson-type polynomials \(f_n\) over \(\mathbb{R}\) with \(a\neq 0\), \(B\neq 2\), are decomposable ovec \(\mathbb{C}\) if and only if \(n= 2k\) with \(k\geq 2\). In that case \(f_n= h_k\circ x^2\) and \(h_k\) is decomposable over \(\mathbb{C}\) if and only if \(B= -2\), \(n= 8\) such that \[ f_8= (x^2- 4a^2 x- 2a^4)\circ (x^2- 2ax)\circ x^2. \] Moreover, all non-trivial decompositions of \(f_n\) are equivalent to the above two decompositions. As a consequence of this result, the author studies Diophantine equations of the form \(f_n(x)= g(y)\), where \(g(x)\) is an arbirary polynomial of \(\mathbb{Q}[x]\), and in case where a such equation has infinitely many rational solutions \((x,y)\) with bounded denominators, he gives necessary conditions on \(g(x)\). Furthermore, if \(f_n^{(a,B)}(x)= f_n(x)\) and \(h_k^{(a,B)}= f_{2k}^{(a,B)}(\sqrt{x})\), then he obtains necessary and sufficient conditions for the equation \[ f_n^{(a,B)}(x)= f_m^{(a', B')}(y), \] where \(a,a',B,B'\in\mathbb{Q}\) and \(m\geq n\geq 3\), to have infinitely many rational solutions with bounded denomiantors.