On cubic exceptional units

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Let \(m_ 1,m_ 2 \in \mathbb{Z}\) and \(P(x) \in \mathbb{Z}[x]\) of degree \(n > 0\). For an algebraic integer \(\alpha\) denote \(N(\alpha)\) the product of all its distinct conjugates. Let \(\mathbb{H}\) denote the set of cubic algebraic integers and \(\mathbb{H}_{P,m_ 1,m_ 2} = \mathbb{H}_{m_ 1,m_ 2}\) the set of solutions \(\eta \in \mathbb{H}\) of the system of equations \[ N(\eta) = m_ 1,\quad N(P(\eta)) = m_ 2.\tag{1} \] It is proved that if \(P\) is a power of a linear or a quadratic polynomial with positive discriminant, and if for a pair \((m_ 1,m_ 2) \neq (0,0)\) the set \(\mathbb{H}_{m_ 1,m_ 2}\) is non-empty then it is infinite, otherwise it is finite. This result is generally not effective, but if \(P\) has either at least two distinct irreducible divisors or \(P\) is a power of a quadratic polynomial with negative discriminant then the solutions of (1) are effectively computable. A simple consequence of the result is that if \(P(x) \in \mathbb{Z}[x]\) is of degree at least two and is not a power of a linear or a quadratic polynomial with positive discriminant then the set of those cubic units \(\eta\) for which \(P(\eta)\) is also a unit is finite. We remark that for special polynomials the problem of the complete resolution of (1) is closely related to the problem of determination all possible finite abelian groups which can appear as torsion group of elliptic curves with integral \(j\)-invariant over cubic number fields.











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