On the generalization of the gap principle

Authors:

Abstract: Let

a l p h a

be a real algebraic number of degree

d g e q 3

and let

be irrational. Let

m u

be a real number such that

(d / 2) + 1 < m u < d

and let

C_{0}

be a positive real number. We prove that there exist positive real numbers

C_{1}

and

C_{2}

, which depend only on

a l p h a

,

m u

and

C_{0}

, with the following property. If

x_{1} / y_{1}

and

x_{2} / y_{2}

are rational numbers in lowest terms such that

H(x_2, y_2) geq H(x_1, y_1) geq C_{1}

and

left|alpha - frac{x_1}{y_1} ight| < frac{C_0}{H(x_1, y_1)^mu}, quad left|�eta - frac{x_2}{y_2} ight| < frac{C_0}{H(x_2, y_2)^mu},

then either

H (x_{2}, y_{2}) > C_{2}^{- 1} H (x_{1}, y_{1})^{m u - d / 2}

, or there exist integers

s, t, u, v

, with

s v - t u e q 0

, such that

�eta = frac{salpha + t}{ualpha + v} quad ext{and} quad frac{x_2}{y_2} = frac{sx_1 + ty_1}{ux_1 + vy_1},

or both. Here

H (x, y) = m a x (| x |, | y |)

is the height of

x / y

. Since

m u - d / 2

exceeds one, our result demonstrates that, unless

a l p h a

and

are connected by means of a linear fractional transformation with integer coefficients, the heights of

x_{1} / y_{1}

and

x_{2} / y_{2}

have to be exponentially far apart from each other. An analogous result is established in the case when

a l p h a

and

are

p

-adic algebraic numbers.

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