Towards Hilbert's tenth problem for rings of integers through Iwasawa theory and Heegner points (Q785335)

Hilbert's Tenth Problem can be phrased as the following question. Given a recursive domain \(A\), is there an algorithm to determine whether an arbitrary polynomial equation with coefficients in \(A\) has solutions in \(A\)? The problem was originally formulated by D. Hilbert for \(\mathbb Z\) and was shown to be unsolvable by \textit{Yu. V. Matiyasevich} [Sov. Math., Dokl. 11, 354--358 (1970; Zbl 0212.33401); translation from Dokl. Akad. Nauk SSSR 191, 279--282 (1970)] building on results of M. Davis, H. Putnam and J. Robinson. Almost since the solution of the original problem many efforts have been devoted to investigating the analog of Hilbert's Tenth Problem over the ring of integers of number fields. In all instances where the status of the problem has been resolved over a family of number fields, a Diophantine definition of \(\mathbb Z\) was constructed over the ring of integers implying that Hilbert's Tenth Problem is unsolvable over this domain. The fields where we know Hilbert's Tenth Problem to be unsolvable over the rings of integers include totally real fields [\textit{J. Denef}, Trans. Am. Math. Soc. 257, 227--236 (1980; Zbl 0426.12009)], their extensions of degree 2 [\textit{J. Denef} and \textit{L. Lipshitz}, J. Lond. Math. Soc., II. Ser. 18, 385--391 (1978; Zbl 0399.10049)], the subfields of these fields (including all abelian extensions) [\textit{H. N. Shapiro} and the reviewer, Commun. Pure Appl. Math. 42, No. 8, 1113--1122 (1989; Zbl 0698.12022)] and fields with exactly one pair of complex conjugate embeddings (\textit{T. Pheidas} [Proc. Am. Math. Soc. 104, No. 2, 611--620 (1988; Zbl 0697.12020)] and the reviewer [Commun. Pure Appl. Math. 42, No. 7, 939--962 (1989; Zbl 0695.12020)]). The problem of showing that a ring of integers of an arbitrary number field has a Diophantine definition of \(\mathbb Z\) can be reduced to showing that given a cyclic number field extension \(L/K\) of prime degree, the ring of integers of \(K\) has a Diophantine definition over a ring of integers of \(L\). Using a method introduced by \textit{B. Poonen} [Lect. Notes Comput. Sci. 2369, 33--42 (2002; Zbl 1057.11068)], one can construct a requisite Diophantine definition if there exists an elliptic curve of rank one over \(K\) and of the same rank over \(L\). \textit{B. Mazur} and \textit{K. Rubin} [Invent. Math. 181, No. 3, 541--575 (2010; Zbl 1227.11075)] subsequently showed that an elliptic curve with required properties always exists provided Shafarevich-Tate conjecture is true. They also provided many examples of number field extensions with a Diophantine definition of the ring of integers of the smaller field over the ring of integers of the larger field. However, it has been almost 30 years since an explicit family of number fields has been shown to have a Diophantine definition of \(\mathbb Z\) over the rings of integers of the fields in the family. The result of the present authors shows that \(\mathbb Z\) has a Diophantine definition over a ring of integers of any number field of the form \(\mathbb Q(\sqrt[3]{p},\sqrt{-q})\), where \(p, q \in \mathbb N\) are prime numbers. The authors use a modification of Poonen's original method due to the reviewer [Trans. Am. Math. Soc. 360, No. 7, 3541--3555 (2008; Zbl 1222.11147)]. (This modification was also obtained by Poonen but not published.) The modification does not require the elliptic curve to have rank 1, but only positive stable rank in the extensions in question. The elliptic curves with positive stable rank in the extension from \(\mathbb Q\) to the fields in the family were obtained using Iwasawa theory and Heegner points.