A NOTE ON SCHMIDT’S CONJECTURE

Abstract

Schmidt [‘Integer points on curves of genus 1’, Compos. Math. 81 (1992), 33–59] conjectured that the number of integer points on the elliptic curve defined by the equation $y^{2}=x^{3}+ax^{2}+bx+c$, with $a,b,c\in \mathbb{Z}$, is $O_{\unicode[STIX]{x1D716}}(\max \{1,|a|,|b|,|c|\}^{\unicode[STIX]{x1D716}})$ for any $\unicode[STIX]{x1D716}>0$. On the other hand, Duke [‘Bounds for arithmetic multiplicities’, Proc. Int. Congress Mathematicians, Vol. II (1998), 163–172] conjectured that the number of algebraic number fields of given degree and discriminant $D$ is $O_{\unicode[STIX]{x1D716}}(|D|^{\unicode[STIX]{x1D716}})$. In this note, we prove that Duke’s conjecture for quartic number fields implies Schmidt’s conjecture. We also give a short unconditional proof of Schmidt’s conjecture for the elliptic curve $y^{2}=x^{3}+ax$.