Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-p9bg8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T08:12:45.830Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The distribution of the residues of a quartic polynomial

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 May 2009

K. McCann
Affiliation:
Manchester University, Manchester, England
K. S. Williams
Affiliation:
Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Let f(x) denote a polynomial of degree d defined over a finite field k with q = pnelements. B. J. Birch and H. P. F. Swinnerton-Dyer [1] have estimated the number N(f) of distinct values of y in k for which at least one of the roots of

is in k. They prove, using A. Weil's deep results [12] (that is, results depending on the Riemann hypothesis for algebraic function fields over a finite field) on the number of points on a finite number of curves, that

where λ is a certain constant and the constant implied by the O-symbol depends only on d. In fact, if G(f) denotes the Galois group of the equation (1.1) over k(y) and G+(f) its Galois group over k+(y), where k+ is the algebraic closure of k, then it is shown that λ depends only on G(f), G+(f) and d. It is pointed out that “in general”

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Glasgow Mathematical Journal Trust 1967