In this paper we solve the equation f(g(x))=f(x)hm(x) where f(x), g(x) and h(x) are unknown polynomials with coefficients in an arbitrary field K, f(x) is nonconstant and separable, deg g≥2, the polynomial g(x) has nonzero derivative g′(x)≠0in K[x]and the integer m≥2is not divisible by the characteristic of the field K. We prove that this equation has no solutions if deg f≥3 . If deg f=2 , we prove that m=2and give all solutions explicitly in terms of Chebyshev polynomials. The Diophantine applications for such polynomials f(x) , g(x) , h(x)with coefficients in ℚ or ℤ are considered in the context of the conjecture of Cassaigne et al. on the values of Liouville’s λ function at points f(r) , r∈ℚ.

Let R be a domain contained in a rank-1 valuation ring of its quotient field. Let R⟦X⟧ be the ring of formal power series over R, and let F be the quotient field of R⟦X⟧. We prove that F is Hilbertian. This resolves and generalizes an open problem of Jarden, and allows to generalize previous Galois-theoretic results over fields of power series.

In this article we introduce and prove a ℤ/p meta-abelian form of the birationalp-adic section conjecture for curves. This is a much stronger result than the usual p-adic birational section conjecture for curves, and makes an effective p-adic section conjecture for curves quite plausible.

A theorem of Kuyk says that every Abelian extension of a Hilbertian field is Hilbertian. We conjecture that for an Abelian variety A defined over a Hilbertian field K every extension L of K in K(Ator) is Hilbertian. We prove our conjecture when K is a number field. The proof applies a result of Serre about l-torsion of Abelian varieties, information about l-adic analytic groups, and Haran's diamond theorem.

We study the asymptotical behaviour of the moduli space of morphisms of given anticanonical degree from a rational curve to a split toric variety, when the degree goes to infinity. We obtain in this case a geometric analogue of Manin’s conjecture about rational points of bounded height on varieties defined over a global field. The study is led through a generating series whose coefficients lie in a Grothendieck ring of motives, the motivic height zeta function. In order to establish convergence properties of this function, we use a notion of motivic Euler product. It relies on a construction of Denef and Loeser which associates a virtual motive to a first order logic ring formula.

We study behaviours of the ‘equianharmonic’ parameter of the Grothendieck–Teichmüller group introduced by Lochak and Schneps. Using geometric construction of a certain one-parameter family of quartics, we realize the Galois action on the fundamental group of a punctured Mordell elliptic curve in the standard Galois action on a specific subgroup of the braid group . A consequence is to represent a matrix specialization of the ‘equianharmonic’ parameter in terms of special values of the adelic beta function introduced and studied by Anderson and Ihara.

We consider a discrete-time risk model which describes the evolution of the reserves of an insurance company at periodic dates fixed in advance. The amount of loss per unit of time corresponds to independent and identically distributed random variables with arithmetic distribution, and the process of the receipt of premiums is assumed to be deterministic, nonnegative but not uniform (instead of being constant and equal to 1 as in the standard, compound binomial model). For this model, we determine the probability of ruin (or of non-ruin), as well as the distribution of the severity of the eventual ruin, with some finite horizon. A compact and efficient exact expression is found by bringing up-to-date a generalised family of Appell polynomials. The method used is illustrated with some numerical examples.

We continue the study of the discrete-time risk model introduced by Picard et al. (2003). The cumulative loss process (S t )t∊ℕ has independent and stationary increments, the increments per unit of time having nonnegative integer values with distribution {a i , i ∊ ℕ and mean ā. The premium receipt process (c k )k∊ℕ is deterministic, nonnegative and nonuniform; in addition, we assume it to be regular in order for there to exist a constant c > ā such that the deviation is bounded as the time t varies. We are interested in whether or not ruin occurs within a finite time. If T is the time of ruin, we obtain P(T = ∞) as the limit of P(T > t) as t → ∞, firstly in the particular case where c = 1/d for some positive d ∊ ℕ, and then in the general case for positive c under the condition that a 0 > ½.

Let v be a Henselian valuation of any rank of a field K and its unique prolongation to a fixed algebraic closure of K having value group . For any subfield L of , let R(L) denote the residue field of the valuation obtained by restricting to L. Using the canonical homomorphism from the valuation ring of v onto its residue field R(K), one can lift any monic irreducible polynomial with coefficients in R(K) to yield a monic irreducible polynomial with coefficients in K. In an attempt to generalize this concept, Popescu and Zaharescu introduced the notion of lifting with respect to a (K, v)-minimal pair (α, δ) belonging to × . As in the case of usual lifting, a given monic irreducible polynomial Q(y) belonging to R(K(α))[y] gives rise to several monic irreducible polynomials over K which are obtained by lifting with respect to a fixed (K, v)-minimal pair (α, δ). If F, F1 are two such lifted polynomials with coefficients in K having roots θ, θ1, respectively, then it is proved in the present paper that in case (K, v) is a tame field, it is shown that K(θ) and K(θ1) are indeed K-isomorphic.

A well-known result of Ehrenfeucht states that a difference polynomial f(X)-g(Y) in two variables X, Y with complex coefficients is irreducible if the degrees of f and g are coprime. Panaitopol and Stefǎnescu generalized this result, by giving an irreducibility condition for a larger class of polynomials called “generalized difference polynomials”. This paper gives an irreducibility criterion for more general polynomials, of which the criterion of Panaitopol and Stefǎnescu is a special case.

Let E be a local field, i.e., a field which is complete with respect to a rank one discrete valuation υ (we do not require any finiteness condition on the residue class field of E). Let f(X) be a polynomial in one variable, with coefficients in E. It is well known [4, 6, 9, 11, 13] that the Newton polygon method allows us to gather information about the factorization of f(X). This method consists of attaching to each side S of a Newton polygon of f(X) a factor (not necessarily irreducible) of f(X), the degree of which is the length of the horizontal projection of S.

Nonsingular derivations of modular Lie algebras which have finite multiplicative order play a role in the coclass theory for pro-p groups and Lie algebras. We study the orders of nonsingular derivations of finite-dimensional non-nilpotent Lie algebras of characteristic p > 0. The methods are essentially number-theoretic.

1991 Mathematics subject classification (Amer. Math. Soc): primary 17B50; secondary 12E20.

We introduce a sequence of polynomials which are extensions of the classic Bernoulli polynomials. This generalization is obtained by using the Bessel functions of the first kind. We use these polynomials to evaluate explicitly a general class of series containing an entire function of exponential type.

Let ν be a valuation of any rank of a field K with value group Gν and f(X)= Xm + alXm−1 + … + am be a polynomial over K. In this paper, it is shown that if (ν(ai)/i)≥(ν(am)/m)>0 for l≤i≤m, and there does not exist any integer r>1 dividing m such that ν(am)/r∈Gν, then f(X) is irreducible over K. It is derived as a special case of a more general result proved here. It generalizes the usual Eisenstein Irreducibility Criterion and an Irreducibility Criterion due to Popescu and Zaharescu for discrete, rank-1 valued fields, (cf. [Journal of Number Theory, 52 (1995), 98–118]).

We study polynomials over an integral domain R which, for infinitely many prime ideals P, induce a permutation of R/P. In many cases, every polynomial with this property must be a composition of Dickson polynomials and of linear polynomials with coefficients in the quotient field of R. In order to find out which of these compositions have the required property we investigate some number theoretic aspects of composition of polynomials. The paper includes a rather elementary proof of ‘Schur's Conjecture’ and contains a quantitative version for polynomials of prime degree.