Prove that the expression $(p^2-q^2)^2-4p^2q^2$ cannot be a perfect square

algebra-precalculuselementary-number-theorynumber theory

I was solving a different question which came down to-

Prove that the expression $(p^2-q^2)^2-4p^2q^2$ cannot be a perfect
square. In other words, prove that the equation
$$(p^2-q^2)^2-4p^2q^2=x^2$$ does not have any solutions in
$\mathbb{N}$.

I checked on Wolfram Alpha and found no solutions (except those with $p=0$ or $q=0$ which I'm not interested in).

I also feel like it's not very hard to prove it, especially if you look at an alternate form
$$p^4+q^4=6p^2q^2+x^2$$
which looks similar to $a^4+b^4=c^2$ (with another extra term), about which we know that no solutions exist (in $\mathbb{N}$).

But, these are all just talking in air. Can anyone give me a complete proof of this fact? Thanks in advance.

Best Answer

$$p^4+q^4=6p^2q^2+x^2\tag{1}$$

Let $U=\frac{p}{q}$, then we get

$$V^2 = U^4-6U^2+1\tag{2}$$

An equation $(2)$ is birationally equivalent to the elliptic curve $$Y^2 = X^3 - X \tag{3}$$
with $$U = \frac{X-1}{Y}, V = \frac{X^3-3X^2+1+X}{Y^2}$$

According to LMFDB , elliptic curve has three integer points as follows.

$(X,Y)=(\pm 1,0), (0,0)$

Since this elliptic curve $(3)$ has rank 0, then there are no rational points on the curve.

Thus, there are no positive integer solutions $(p,q).$