Abstract Algebra – When is $\mathbb Z[\sqrt n]$ a Euclidean Domain?

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Is there a complete classification of all the known integer values of $n$ such that the title holds? The obvious ones are if $n$ is a perfect square, either positive or negative, which includes $\pm 1$, as well as the values $n=\pm 2$. From there, I know that all other values of n are positive. From what I've seen, for square free n, it has to be either a prime congruent to 3 mod 4, or it has to have only such primes and 2 in its prime factorization, such as 14 or 22 for example, but it isn't true for all such numbers. I've been told that it is conjectured that there are only finitely many square free integers n such that $\mathbb Z[\sqrt n]$ is a Euclidean Domain, but I can't find much information about that.

Are there any primes congruent to 3 mod 4 or products of such that are known to not fit this requirement, or is it simply that it hasn't been proven yet? What is the least number n for which the classification of $\mathbb Z[\sqrt n]$ is unknown?

Best Answer

For $n$ negative this is relatively easy - the only such $n$ are $-1,-2$. For other negative $n$, this ring is not a UFD: $2$ is irreducible (since there are no elements of norm $2$ in $\mathbb Z[\sqrt{n}]$) and divides either $\sqrt{n}\cdot\sqrt{n}$ or $(1+\sqrt{n})(1-\sqrt{n})$, but doesn't divide either factor. Note that for $n\equiv 1\pmod 4$ this is sometimes remedied by working in the full ring of integers of the quadratic field (which is $\mathbb Z[\frac{1+\sqrt{n}}{2}]$ for $n\equiv 1\pmod 4$ squarefree), which is a UFD or Euclidean for a handful more values of $n$.

For positive $n$, the situation is very complicated. It is conjectured that then $\mathbb Z[\sqrt{n}]$ is a Euclidean domain iff it is a UFD, and when the latter holds is somewhat more understood, so let me focus on that.

Firstly, in order for it to be a UFD, $\mathbb Z[\sqrt{n}]$ has to be the full ring of integers in $\mathbb Q(\sqrt{n})$. Unless $n$ is a square, this forces $n$ to be squarefree and congruent to either $2$ or $3\bmod 4$. Further, we can restrict the number of prime factors $n$ can have - it follows from Gauss's genus theory that the $2$-torsion in the narrow class group has order $2^{\omega(n)-1}$, and hence that of the class group is at least $2^{\omega(n)-2}$. Furthermore, if $n\equiv 3\pmod 4$ then the two are equal (since $a^2-nb^2=-1$ has no solution). Since for these rings being a UFD is equivalent to having trivial class group, this means $\omega(n)\leq 2$ if $n\equiv 2\pmod 4$ and $\omega(n)=1$ otherwise. Hence $n$ is either a prime $3\pmod 4$, or twice an odd prime. Both of these cases occur, as indicated for instance by $n=3,6$. Those specific $n$ are also known to give (norm-)Euclidean domains. If we were to consider full rings of integers, then some products of two odd primes would also appear, but that's it.

Unfortunately, this is about where our knowledge ends. It is conjectured that there are infinitely many values of $n$ for which these rings are UFDs and EDs, and in fact it is expected that this holds for a majority of prime values of $n$, but this is far from known. You can find some list of known values on OEIS (ignoring cases $n\equiv 1\pmod 4$, as then your ring is not the ring of integers).

As for the least unknown cases - this is the sort of problem where (with current knowledge, thanks to Harper's work) the problem is essentially reduced to a computational problem, so it is hard to pin down what is the least unknown case. Harper himself checked this in his PhD thesis when $4n\leq 500$ (and indeed all UFDs are EDs in this range), but I have no idea if and how far this has been pushed since 2004.

Edit: I have found a paper of Narkiewicz which proves that for real quadratic fields, the "UFD implies ED" holds with at most two exceptions.

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