On Fibonacci numbers with few prime divisors (Q2577611)

Three of these authors, \textit{Y. Bugeaud}, \textit{M. Mignotte} and \textit{S. Siksek} proved in an earlier paper [Classical and modular approaches to exponential Diophantine equations. II: The Lebesgue-Nagell equation, Compos. Math. 142, No. 1, 31--62 (2006; Zbl 1128.11013)] that \(F_n= y^m\), \(y\) a positive integer, \(m> 2\), has a solution only when \(F_n= 0,1,8\), and \(144\), and \(L_n= y^p\), \(y\) a positive integer, \(p\geq 2\), only when \(L_n= 1\) and \(4\). The proofs depend on the use of powerful techniques such as Baker's method and extensive computer verification. Using these results they show here that \(\omega(F_n)\geq 3\) for almost all \(n\) where \(\omega(m)\), \(m\) a positive integer, is the number of distinct prime divisors of \(m\), that is, Fibonacci numbers rarely have few prime factors. Further, \(\omega(F_n)\geq(\log n)^{\log 2+ o(1)}\) for almost all \(n\). They then conjecture that \(\omega(F_n)\gg\log n\) for composite \(n\) and support this with a heuristic argument.