School of Mathematics Colloquium

Solving $S$-unit and Mordell equations via Shimura-Taniyama conjecture.

by Prof. Benjamin Matschke (MPIM Germany)

Thursday, December 11, 2014 from to (Asia/Kolkata)
at AG-69
Description We present two types of algorithms that practically solve S-unit and
Mordell equations. The first type builds on Cremona's algorithm, and
the second one combines explicit height bounds with enumeration
algorithms. In particular we refine de Weger's sieve for S-unit
equations and solve a large class of such. Additionally our new
results on Mordell's equation implies an improved version of a theorem
of Coates on the difference of coprime squares and cubes. Our results and algorithms crucially rely on a method of Faltings (Arakelov, Parsin, Szpiro) combined with the Shimura-Taniyama conjecture, and they do not use the theory of logarithmic forms.
This is joint work with Rafael von Känel.