On Cauchy–Liouville–Mirimanoff Polynomials

Abstract

AbstractLet p be a prime greater than or equal to 17 and congruent to 2 modulo 3. We use results of Beukers and Helou on Cauchy–Liouville–Mirimanoff polynomials to show that the intersection of the Fermat curve of degree p with the line X + Y = Z in the projective plane contains no algebraic points of degree d with 3 ≤ d ≤ 11. We prove a result on the roots of these polynomials and show that, experimentally, they seem to satisfy the conditions of a mild extension of an irreducibility theorem of Pólya and Szegö. These conditions are conjecturally also necessary for irreducibility.