Representing x^3-2 as a Sum of Two Squares

diophantine equationsnt.number-theorypolynomialssums-of-squares

Prove that there exist infinitely many integers $x$ such that integer $P(x)=x^3-2$ is a sum of two squares of integers.

Ideally, I am looking for a proof method that also applies for other $P(x)$, such as, for example, $P(x)=x^3+x+1$.

For $x=4t+3$, $P=(4t+3)^3-2$ is $1$ modulo $4$. By a well-believed (but difficult) Bunyakovsky conjecture, $P$ is a prime infinitely often, and every prime that is $1$ modulo $4$ is a sum of two squares.

To find an unconditional proof, it suffices to find polynomials $A(t)$, $B(t)$ and $C(t)$ with rational coefficients such that $A(t)^2 + B(t)^2 = C(t)^3-2$. Are there any good heuristics to find such polynomials? Is there any computer algebra system that helps to guess a solution of a polynomial equation over $Q[t]$?

One way to guess $C(t)$ is to form a set $S$ of all integers up to (say) $10^5$ that are sums of two squares, and look for polynomials $C(t)$ such that $C(t)^3-2$ belong to $S$ for all small $t$. I then checked all polynomials of degree up to $4$ and coefficients up to $12$, and found, for example, a polynomial $D(t)=3 + 8 t + 12 t^2 + 8 t^3 + 4 t^4$ such that $D(t)^3-1$ is always a sum of two squares. But no $C(t)$ found in this range, and increasing the degree and/or coefficients makes the enumeration infeasible. Are there methods to find a polynomial with all values in the given set, that are better than enumeration?

Best Answer

The answer is similar to one provided here. The approach is elementary and proves stronger fact that it can be expressed as sum of two coprime squares.

We consider the product $(n+2)(n^3-2)$ which is equal to $n^{4}-2n+2n^3-4$. Now we observe that $$(n+2)(n^3-2)=(n^2+n-7)^2+(13n^2+12n-53).$$ Proceeding as shown in the link we can easily get that $13n^2+12n-53$ is a perfect square for infinitely many $n\equiv 3\pmod{4}$ with first solution as $13(3^2)+12(3)-53=10^2$. If one chooses such a $n$ then clearly $n^3-2$ doesn't have any prime divisor of form $4k+3$ as $\gcd(n^2+n-7,13n^2+12n-53)\mid 25\cdot 59$ and $59$ doesn't divide $n^3-2$ if one looks at the general solution of the equation. Since, $n^3-2$ doesn't have any prime divisor of form $4k+3$ and $n\equiv 3\pmod{4}$ we can infer from the folklore result that it can be expressed as sum of two coprime squares.