Distance between cubics and rationals

Fuente: arXiv
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Autore principale: Badziahin, Dmitry
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2025
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author Badziahin, Dmitry
author_facet Badziahin, Dmitry
contents We investigate the following problem: what is the smallest possible distance between a cubic irrational $ξ$ and a rational number $p/q$ in terms of the height $H(ξ)$ and $q$? More precisely, we consider the set $D_{3,1}$ consisting of all pairs $(u,v)$ of positive real numbers such that $|ξ- p/q| > cH^{-u}(ξ)q^{-v}$ for all cubic irrationals $ξ$ and rationals $p/q$. First, we transform this problem into one about the root separation of cubic polynomials. Second, under the assumption of the famous abc-conjecture, we give an almost complete description of $D_{3,1}$. Namely, the points $(u,v)$ with $2\le v\le 3$ that lie in the interior of $D_{3,1}$ are characterised by the inequality $u> 10-3v$. Assuming only the weaker Hall conjecture, we also obtain nontrivial results about the shape of $D_{3,1}$, although these are not as strong as those derived from the abc-conjecture. Finally, we discuss an analogue of the set $D_{3,1}$ in function fields where we are able to give an almost complete description unconditionally.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2509_01105
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Distance between cubics and rationals
Badziahin, Dmitry
Number Theory
11J68, 11D59
We investigate the following problem: what is the smallest possible distance between a cubic irrational $ξ$ and a rational number $p/q$ in terms of the height $H(ξ)$ and $q$? More precisely, we consider the set $D_{3,1}$ consisting of all pairs $(u,v)$ of positive real numbers such that $|ξ- p/q| > cH^{-u}(ξ)q^{-v}$ for all cubic irrationals $ξ$ and rationals $p/q$. First, we transform this problem into one about the root separation of cubic polynomials. Second, under the assumption of the famous abc-conjecture, we give an almost complete description of $D_{3,1}$. Namely, the points $(u,v)$ with $2\le v\le 3$ that lie in the interior of $D_{3,1}$ are characterised by the inequality $u> 10-3v$. Assuming only the weaker Hall conjecture, we also obtain nontrivial results about the shape of $D_{3,1}$, although these are not as strong as those derived from the abc-conjecture. Finally, we discuss an analogue of the set $D_{3,1}$ in function fields where we are able to give an almost complete description unconditionally.
title Distance between cubics and rationals
topic Number Theory
11J68, 11D59
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.01105