A remark about Peck's method in positive characteristic (Q5954999)

An \(n\)-tuple \((\alpha_1,\ldots,\alpha_n)\) of real numbers is said to satisfy Littlewood's \(n\)-hypothesis if for each \(\epsilon>0\) there exists a positive integer \(q\) such that \[ q\|q\alpha_1\|\cdots \|q\alpha_n\|\leq\epsilon. \] Here, \(\|\cdot\|\) stands for the distance to the nearest integer. Littlewood's conjecture asserts that any pair of real numbers satisfies Littlewood's \(2\)-hypothesis. In 1961, \textit{L. G. Peck} [Bull. Am. Math. Soc. 67, 197-201 (1961; Zbl 0098.26302)] proved that any tuple \((\alpha_1,\ldots,\alpha_n)\) of real numbers in a number field of degree \(n+1\) satisfies Littlewood's \(n\)-hypothesis. More precisely he proved that for such a tuple \((\alpha_1,\ldots,\alpha_n)\) there exist a constant \(c>0\) and infinitely many integers \(q\) with \[ \max_{1\leq i\leq n-1} \|q\alpha_i\|\leq c q^{-1/n}(\log q)^{-1/(n-1)} \quad\text{ and }\quad \|q\alpha_n\|\leq c q^{-1/n}. \] In the paper under review, the author studies a similar question related with function fields in one variable over a finite field. The main result is as follows. Let \(n\geq 2\) be an integer, \(K=\mathbb F_q\) a finite field with \(q\) elements, \(\hat{K}\) the field \(K((T^{-1}))\) endowed with the absolute value \(|\cdot|\) defined by \[ |\alpha|=q^{n_0} \quad\text{for } \quad \alpha=\sum_{n=-\infty}^{n_0} a_nT^n \quad\text{ with }\quad a_{n_0}\neq 0, \] \(L\subset\hat{K}\) a finite extension of \(K\) of degree \(n+1\). There exists \(\delta>0\) such that, for any \(n\)-tuple \((\alpha_1,\ldots,\alpha_n)\) of elements in \(L\), there is a constant \(c>0\) and there are infinitely many polynomials \(Q\in K[T]\) with \[ \max_{1\leq i\leq n-1} \|Q\alpha_i\|\leq c |Q|^{-(1/n)-\delta} \quad\text{ and }\quad \|Q\alpha_n\|\leq c |Q|^{-1/n}. \] Here, \(\|\alpha\|=|\alpha-E(\alpha)|\), where \(E(\alpha)\in K[T]\) is the unique polynomial such that \(|\alpha-E(\alpha)|<1\). According to a remark of the author, it follows that the analogue of W. M. Schmidt's Theorem about the simultaneous rational approximation of algebraic numbers never holds for \(n\) elements in an extension field of \(\mathbb F_q(T)\) of degree \(n+1\) embedded in \(\mathbb F_q((T^{-1}))\).