A Thue equation is a Diophantine equation of the form
where $F\in Z[x, y]$ is an irreducible binary form of degree $n\geq 3$ and $k$ is a non-zero rational integer. In 1909, Thue [1] proved that the thue equation has only finitely many solutions, however Thue didn't give a complete method. In 1986 Baker [2] used the theory of linear form in logarithms of algebraic numbers to solve the problem, in particular, he gave an effective upper bound for the solutions of Thue equation. In recent years, various families of Thue equations were studied (see [3-14]).
In 2012, Xia, Chen, Zhang[14] presented a new and simpler method to approximate certain algebraic numbers. Applying the method, authors derived an effective upper bound for the solutions $(x, y)$ of the two-parametric family of quartic Thue equation
for $s>32t^3$. The purpose of this research is to extend the method to solve the two-parametric family of sextic Thue equation
where $A_n=54n^3+81n^2+54n+12$, $n>6.02\times 10^6$. In 1990, Alan Togbé proved that equation (1.1) has only trivial solutions, where $|n|\leq2.03\times10^6$. We extend the result of Alan Togbé, and consider n is any integer.
In this paper, we will show
Theorem 1 For any $n\in Z$, equation(1.1) has only trivial solutions,
Before the proof of the theorem, some lemmas are needed.
Lemma 2.1 (see [14]) Let $p_n(x)=\sum\limits_{k=0}^{n}\binom{n-\alpha}{n-k}\binom{n+\alpha}{k}x^k$, $q_n(x)=\sum\limits_{k=0}^{n}\binom{n-\alpha}{k}\binom{n+\alpha}{n-k}x^k$ and $R_n(x)=x^\alpha q_n(x)-p_n(x), $ where $n$ is a positive integer and $\alpha$ is a real number, then we have
(ⅰ) $q_n(x)=\sum\limits_{k=0}^{n}(-1)^{k}\binom{2n-k}{n-k}\binom{n-\alpha}{k}(1-x)^k; $
(ⅱ) Let$ x=w=\frac{si-t}{si+t}=e^{i\varphi}, 0 < \varphi < \frac{\pi}{2}, 0 < \alpha < 1, $ then $|q_n(w)|\leq4|1+\sqrt{w}|^{2(n-1)}; $
(ⅲ) Let $x=w=\frac{si-t}{si+t}=e^{i\varphi}, 0 < \varphi < \frac{\pi}{2}, 0 < \alpha < 1, $ then $|q_n(w)|\leq4|1+\sqrt{w}|^{2(n-1)}.$
Lemma 2.2 If $\alpha=1/6$, then $12^k3^{\lfloor k/2 \rfloor }\binom{n-\alpha}{k}$ is rational integer.
Proof Let $k!=2^{s_2}3^{s_3}M$ with $(6, M)=1$. Since
then there exists $t$ such that $6t\equiv1({\rm mod}~ M)$ and
Since $(t, M)=1$, we obtain
While
and
The lemma therefore follows:
Lemma 2.3 (see [11]) Let $\theta$ be an algebraic number. Suppose that there exists $k_0>0, l_0, Q>1, E>1 $ such that for all $n$ there are rational integers $P_n$ and $Q_n$ with $|Q_n| < k_0Q^n$ and $|Q_n\theta-P_n|\leq l_0E^{-n}$ and suppose further that $P_nQ_{n+1} \neq Q_nP_{n+1}$. Then, for any rational integers $x$ and $y$, $y\geq e/(2l_0)$, we have
Consider the equation
where $A>0$, $A, B\in Z$. If we set $B=-n, A=-A_nB/3=18n^4+27n^3+18n^2+4n>0$, we have$f(x, y)=F_n(x, -y)$. Hence the solution of (1.1) could be deduced from the solution of (3.1).
Denote by $\theta$ as the root of $f(x, 1)=0$, straightforward computation shows that $\theta$ satisfies
where $\rho=-\frac{1}{2}+\frac{\sqrt{-3}}{2}$, $\bar{\rho}=-\frac{1}{2}-\frac{\sqrt{-3}}{2}$, and $-$ mean conjugate in $Z[\sqrt{-3}]$, so that $\overline{a+b\rho}=a+b\bar{\rho}$. Since$-3\equiv1(\mod 4)$, we know that $\{1, \frac{1+\sqrt {-3}}{2} \}$ are integral basis in $Z[\sqrt{-3}]$. Therefore, $\rho$, $\bar{\rho}$ are algebraic interger in $Z[\sqrt{-3}]$.
Putting $z=A+B\bar{\rho}, u=A+B\rho, w=z/u=e^{i\varphi}$, we have
Note that $e^{\frac{-\pi }{6}}=i\bar{\rho}$, $e^{\frac{\pi }{6}}=-i\rho$, $e^{\frac{-\pi }{3}}=-\rho$, $e^{\frac{\pi }{3}}=-\bar{\rho}$, one can check that $\theta_k$ satisfies $\theta_k=\frac{v_k+\bar{v_k} w^{\frac{1}{6}}} {r_k w^{\frac{1}{6}}+\bar{r_k}}, $ where
Actually, this property of $\theta$ make possible for future proof. Furthermore, one can give explicit estimation for the roots as the lemma below.
Lemma 3.1 Denote by $\theta_k~(k=0, 1, \cdots, 5)$ as the root of $f(x, 1)=0$, then it satisfies
Proof One can check that $f(x, 1)$ change the sign between two formula in the inequalities.
Now we will give an effective approximation of $\theta$. Since
putting $S=v_kq_n(w)+\bar{v_k}p_n(w), ~T=r_kp_n(w)+\bar{r_k}q_n(w)$, we have
Note that $1-w=1-\frac{A+B\bar{\rho}}{A+B\rho}=\frac{B\sqrt 3 i}{u}$, from Lemma 2.1, we have
From Lemma 2.2, we get
Hence, if denote $Q_n=12^nu^nT$ and $P_n=12^nu^nS$, it's easy to prove that both are algebraic integer in $Q[\sqrt{-3}]$. Since $\bar{u}=z$, $\overline {u^np_n(w)}=u^nq_n(w)$. One can prove $\overline {Q_n}=Q_n$ and $\overline {P_n}=P_n$. Therefore we have $Q_n$, $P_n\in Z$. In another word, we get two arrays of rational integers $Q_n$, $P_n$ such that
In the following, we give estimation of upper bound for $Q_n, R_n$.
From Lemma 2.1, we have
and $|R_n(w)| \leq \frac{\varphi}{3}|1-\sqrt{w}|^{2n}.$ So, for $A_n=54n^3+81n^2+54n+12$, and $|n| \geq 2.03\times10^6$, if denote $\varepsilon =2A-B+2\sqrt{A^2-AB+B^2}$, we obtain
where $C_Q=\frac{|6r_k|}{|1+\sqrt w|^2}$, $C_R=\frac{|\overline{v_k}-\theta r_k|\cdot|\varphi|}{6}$.
Now we will give estimation of $C_Q, C_R$. From(3.3) we have
From definition, we have $w=\frac{A+B\bar{\rho}}{A+B\rho}=\frac{A-\frac{B}{2}-\frac{\sqrt 3}{2}Bi }{A-\frac{B}{2}+\frac{\sqrt 3}{2}Bi}=\frac{(A-\frac{B}{2}-\frac{\sqrt 3}{2}Bi)^2}{A^2-AB+B^2}$. Hence we get
Note that $B=-n, ~A=18B^4-27B^3+18B^2-4B$ and $|B|>2.03\times10^6$, straightforward computation shows that
From (3.6) and (3.7), we have
On the other hand, from definition we have $e^{i\varphi}=w=\frac{(A-\frac{B}{2}-\frac{\sqrt 3}{2}Bi)^2}{A^2-AB+B^2}=\frac{A^2-AB-\frac{B^2}{2}}{A^2-AB+B^2}-\frac{\sqrt 3 B(A-\frac{B}{2})}{A^2-AB+B^2}$. So we have
If $\theta_k~(k=0, 1, \cdots, 5)$ is denoted as in Lemma 3.1, one can get estimation of root $\theta_k$:
Since $\varepsilon =2A-B+2\sqrt{A^2-AB+B^2} < 4.1A < 1.367|A_nB|$, from (3.6) and (3.9), we can get estimate of $C_R$.
For $\theta_k~~(k\neq4)$, we have
For $\theta_k~~(k=4)$, we also have
Now putting $Q=12\varepsilon, ~E=\frac{\varepsilon}{36B^2}$, $k_0=4.502$, then for $\theta_k$, where $k\neq4, k=4$, we set $l_0=0.0472$ or $l_0=0.0357|A_n|$ separately. From Lemma 2.2, computing
we have approximation to algebraic numbers as in followed lemma.
Lemma 3.2 If $\theta_k~(k=0, 1, \cdots, 5)$ is the root of
then for any $x, y \in Z$, we have
where
Now we can prove the theorem. First, from Lemma 3.1, we have
Second, computation shows that when $n=|B|>2.03\times10^6$, we get $\lambda < 2.18$. It's easy to get
Hence
So we get an upper bound of $|x-\theta y|$. From Lemma 3.2 and (3.13), for $\theta_k~~(k\neq4)$, we have
Note that $\varepsilon < 4.1A < 1.367|A_nB|$, so if $(x, y)$ is type $k$ solution of (3.1), where $(k\neq4)$, we have
For $\theta_4$, we have
So if $(x, y)$ is type $ 4$ solution of (3.1), we have
This is an upper bound for $|y|$. From well-known result in number theory, we know that when $|y|>1$, $x, y$ is partial quotient of $\theta$. In the following, we only need to verify whether $(p_n, q_n)$ is solution of (3.1) or not.
From Lemma 3.1, computation shows the continued fraction expansion of $\theta_k~~(k\neq4)$, the result is listed as below:
where $B_n=\frac{A_n}{3}=18n^3+27n^2+18n+4$.
One can observe that $q_2$ or $q_4$ has exceeded the upper bound of $|y|$, $0.01|A_n|^{0.7735}|B|^{-0.4185} $. Straight forward computation shows that it only exists trivial solution $\pm(x, y)=(0, 1), (1, -1)$.
One can also get the continued fraction expansion of $\theta_k~~(k\neq4)$ as below
One can observe that $q_2$ has exceeded the upper bound of $|y|$, $0.0606|A_n|^{0.12766}|B|^{-1.19149}$. Computation shows that it doesn't exist type $4$ solution.
Therefore, we know that (3.1) only has trivial solutions
Since $F_n(x, y)=f(x, -y)$, so we proved that when $n>2.03\times10^6$, (2) only has trivial solutions. From the theorem developed by Alan Togbé [15], we prove the theorem.