REVIEW 3 major objections 4 minor 34 references
Discriminants of Fields Generated by Polynomials of Given Height
T0 review · 3 major / 4 minor · reviewed 2026-08-14 · deepseek-v4-flash
Pith's one-line read For every fixed degree $n \ge 3$, the number of monic irreducible polynomials of height $H$ whose root field has a prescribed discriminant $\Delta$ is at most $H^{n-2+\sqrt{2}+o(1)}$ in the generic case; almost all such polynomials have…
desk verdict Genuinely new bounds in arithmetic statistics, with one honest but under-proved repair: the exceptional-degree case in the appendix needs full details before (1.2) is fully established. read the letter →
The pith
A machine-rendered reading of the paper's core claim, the machinery that carries it, and where it could break.
The reading
What carries the argument
The load-bearing object is the square-free part of the polynomial discriminant, counted through the Diophantine equation $z^2 = u \operatorname{Disc}(f)$, which by Lemma 2.1 has the same square-free part as the field discriminant. Two tools do the counting. The determinant method bounds integral points on the hypersurface $z^2 = u \operatorname{Disc}(\ldots)$, using irreducibility lemmas that hinge on the two non-square conditions on $|u|(n-1)^{n-1}$ and $|u|n^n$, plus a fibration lemma controlling solutions with two free coefficients. The square-sieve method instead averages the Jacobi symbol $(\operatorname{Disc}(f)/pq)$ over polynomials; a character-sum lemma shows the sum over monic polynomials of degree $n$ over $\mathbb{F}_p$ is $O(p^{n-1})$, a full power of $p$ better than the usual square-root saving, by averaging over the transformations $f_{u,v}(X)=u^n f(u^{-1}(X+v))$ and applying the geometric character-sum bound. Balancing the two estimates gives the two regimes of Theorem 1.1.
What would settle it
For a degree $n=9$ or $n=10$, compute the number of coefficient vectors $(a_2,\ldots,a_{n-1})$ in $[-H,H]^{n-3}$ for which $Z^2 - u\operatorname{Disc}(X^n+\cdots)$ fails to be absolutely irreducible; if for some square-free $u$ satisfying the non-square conditions this number grows faster than $H^{n-3}$, or the associated solution count exceeds $H^{n-2+\sqrt{2}+\varepsilon}$, Lemma 3.3 and Theorem 1.1 would be false. A more direct check is to verify the appendix's asserted finiteness of bad rational specialisations for $n=9$ and $n=10$, since that step is left as a sketch.
Extended reading notes
Core claim
The central discovery is a pair of complementary counting estimates for the square-free part of polynomial discriminants. Writing $u$ for the square-free part of $\Delta$, Lemma 3.3 bounds the number of irreducible polynomials $f$ of height $H$ with square-free part $u$ by $H^{n-2+\sqrt{2}+o(1)}$ whenever $|u|(n-1)^{n-1}$ and $|u|n^n$ are not squares; Lemma 3.4 bounds the same quantity by $H^{n-n/(2n-1)}(\log H)^{(3n-2)/(2n-1)}$ without any restriction on $u$. Since $\operatorname{Disc}(f)$ and the field discriminant $\Delta(f)$ have the same square-free part, these bounds immediately give Theorem 1.1. The paper also proves an analogous saving for trinomials $X^n+aX+b$: with $n \equiv 1 \pmod 4$ and $a$ in a box away from zero, the number of pairs with a given square-free part of the discriminant is at most $H^{o(1)}$ times the number of $a$-values, yielding at least $H^{1+o(1)}$ distinct quadratic fields from trinomials up to height $H$.
Load-bearing premise
The proof of the generic bound for degrees $n$ of the form $u^2$ or $u^2+1$ with odd $u$ rests on an appendix that repairs earlier determinant-method lemmas only in sketch form, citing two auxiliary results without a complete proof; if that repair has a gap, bound (1.2) is unproved for those degrees.
Editorial extensions
If this is right
- Almost all monic irreducible polynomials of degree $n$ and height $H$ generate number fields whose discriminant has size at least $H^{2-\sqrt{2}+o(1)}$.
- The total count of polynomials with field discriminant $\Delta$ summed over $|\Delta|\le D$ is at most $D H^{n-2+\sqrt{2}+o(1)} + D^{1/2} H^{n-n/(2n-1)+o(1)}$, so each small discriminant is generated by comparatively few polynomials.
- For trinomials $X^n+aX+b$ with $n\equiv 1\pmod 4$ and $1\le a,b\le H$, at least $H^{1+o(1)}$ distinct quadratic fields $\mathbb{Q}(\sqrt{\Delta_n(a,b)})$ occur.
- The number of distinct quadratic fields $\mathbb{Q}(\sqrt{\Delta_n(a,b)})$ with $|\Delta_n(a,b)|\le \Delta$ is at least $\Delta^{1/(n-1)+o(1)}$, improving the previous exponent by a factor of $3/2$.
- The number of polynomials whose splitting field has a given discriminant $\delta$ is at most $H^{n-n/(2n-1)+o(1)}$.
Reading between the lines
- The uniformity over $\Delta$ suggests that small discriminants are not the main source of polynomials; a natural next step is to prove the authors' expectation that the total number of distinct discriminants from all degree-$n$ polynomials of height $H$ is $H^{n+o(1)}$.
- The exceptional condition in Theorem 1.1 singles out discriminants for which the top term of $u\operatorname{Disc}(f)$ can be a square as a polynomial in a coefficient; this looks like an intrinsic arithmetic obstruction, and one could test whether counts in the exceptional case actually reach the larger bound.
- The $p$-saving character-sum estimate behind the square-sieve argument is independent of the rest of the paper and may apply to other coefficient-polynomial arithmetic functions, such as counting square-free values in multi-parameter families without an ABC-type assumption.
Signed reviews
Editorial analysis
A structured set of objections, weighed in public.
Referee Report
Summary. The paper studies N_n(H,\Delta), the number of monic irreducible degree-n integer polynomials with coefficients bounded by H whose root field has discriminant \Delta. The main result, Theorem 1.1, gives two uniform upper bounds: a generic bound H^{n-2+\sqrt{2}+o(1)} for square-free parts u not satisfying either square condition, and a universal bound H^{n-n/(2n-1)}(\log H)^{(3n-2)/(2n-1)} in all cases. The proofs combine a determinant-method argument modeled on Dietmann [9] and a square-sieve argument built on new character-sum estimates (Lemma 2.7). The paper also proves an improved bound for trinomials (Theorem 1.4), T_n(A,B,C,D;s) \le A(A+B+C+D)^{o(1)}, with corollaries on the number of distinct quadratic fields and field discriminants. An appendix corrects errors in [9, Lemmas 5, 6, 8] for degrees n = u^2 or u^2+1 with odd u.
Significance. If the determinant-method component is made fully rigorous, this is a substantial contribution: it provides the first uniform upper bounds for N_n(H,\Delta), together with a lower bound on the number of distinct discriminants of fields generated by height-H polynomials. Lemma 2.7, which saves a factor p over the trivial or Weil-bound estimate for mixed character sums with polynomial discriminants, is of independent interest. Theorem 1.4 improves Shparlinski's trinomial result unconditionally and without the restriction A \ll B^{2-\varepsilon}. The square-sieve part of the paper is self-contained and convincing. The main weakness is that the determinant-method bound (1.2) for the exceptional degrees n = u^2 and n = u^2+1 rests on a sketched correction in the appendix rather than on a complete proof; the same is true for the uniformity-over-u claim in Lemma 3.3.
major comments (3)
- [Section 6 (Appendix) and Lemma 3.3] The amendment to [9, Lemmas 5 and 6] for degrees n = u^2 or n = u^2+1 with odd u is presented only as a sketch. For n = u^2, the assertion that Hering [13, Satz 1] yields only O(1) 'bad planes', uniformly in the fixed coefficients a_1,\ldots,a_{n-2}, is not proved; the uniformity is exactly what the determinant-method counting requires. For n = u^2+1, the paper shifts to the coefficient pair (a_{n-3}, a_n) and invokes Smith [31] for the Galois group of the trinomial X^n + aX^{n-3} + b, but the analogue of the determinant-method point count on the resulting irreducible curves is not spelled out. Since Lemma 3.3 and hence Theorem 1.1 claim (1.2) for all n \ge 3, these exceptional degrees currently lack a complete proof. Please expand the appendix into a full argument or restrict the statement of (1.2) to n not of these exceptional forms.
- [Section 3.1, Lemma 3.3] The proof of Lemma 3.3 consists of saying 'we can now work through [9, Section 5]' and 'in exactly the same way as in [9] we derive the desired result.' This is not a self-contained proof: it does not verify that the determinant-method estimates, including the treatment of the additional factor u in equation (3.4), carry through uniformly for all square-free u satisfying the hypothesis. In particular, the height of the curve z^2 = u Disc(...) depends on u, and the Bombieri\textendash Pila type point count must be shown to absorb this dependence into the o(1) term. A detailed derivation of the uniform bound T_n(H,u) \le H^{n-2+\sqrt{2}+o(1)} is necessary for the uniformity claim in Theorem 1.1.
- [Section 2.1, Lemma 2.2] The proof of Lemma 2.2 states that the leading monomial u(-1)^{(n-1)(n-2)/2}(n-1)^{n-1} c_0^n A_0^n 'cannot be a square in \mathbb{Q}[A_0] as |u|(n-1)^{n-1} is no square.' This reasoning is not correct for odd n, because c_0^n can supply the missing square factors; for example, when n is odd and u c_0 is chosen to be a square, the coefficient may become a rational square. The lemma remains true in that case because D(A_0) has odd degree and hence cannot be a square, but the proof must be rewritten with an explicit parity split (even n handled by the non-square coefficient, odd n by the degree argument). Since Lemma 2.2 is used in Lemma 3.3, this is a load-bearing correction.
minor comments (4)
- [Sections 3.1 and 3.2, notation] The set T_n(H,u) is defined only for square-free integers u \ge 1, but in the proof of Theorem 1.1 it is applied to the square-free part of \Delta, which may be negative. Please clarify that u is replaced by |u|, or redefine T_n(H,u) to take any nonzero square-free u with |\Delta(f)| = r^2 u.
- [Section 4, Corollary 1.5] The transition from Theorem 1.4 to the lower bound S_n(A,B,C,D) \ge B(A+B+C+D)^{o(1)} is asserted with 'As in [29]', but the paper does not state or prove the needed estimate on the number of reducible trinomials X^n + aX + b in the rectangle. Please add an explicit reducibility bound or a more detailed reference to [29].
- [Introduction, Theorem 1.4] The introduction says 'For C \ge 1 and A \ll B^{2-\varepsilon} ... we can sharpen this as follows,' but the statement of Theorem 1.4 does not include the condition A \ll B^{2-\varepsilon}. The proof in fact does not use such a condition, so the introductory phrase should be reworded to avoid the impression that the theorem is conditional on it.
- [Section 3.2, Lemma 3.4] In the optimization step, the choice of z is announced as z = H^{n/(2n-1)}(\log H)^{-(n-1)/(2n-1)}, and the paper says 'we obtain the desired result' without showing the algebra that yields the log exponent (3n-2)/(2n-1). Displaying this short computation would improve readability.
Circularity Check
No circularity: the central bounds are proved by determinant-method and square-sieve arguments; self-citations are to published prior work, and the appendix explicitly repairs the cited flawed lemmas rather than assuming them.
full rationale
The paper contains no step in which a claimed prediction is equivalent by construction to its input, no fitted parameter is renamed as a prediction, and no load-bearing conclusion is forced by a definition. Theorem 1.1's two bounds are obtained from Lemma 3.3 (determinant method) and Lemma 3.4 (square sieve), each proved from lemmas developed in Sections 2 and 3. Lemma 3.3 is the most self-citation-dependent step: its proof says "We can now work through [9, Section 5]" and "in exactly the same way as in [9] we derive the desired result," citing Dietmann's earlier paper [9]. This is a genuinely load-bearing self-citation, but it is not circular: [9] is a published, parameter-free prior result with stated assumptions that do not include the target theorem, and the present paper does not merely assume [9] — Section 6 explicitly acknowledges that [9, Lemmas 5 and 6] (and consequently Lemma 8) are false for degrees n = u^2 or n = u^2+1 with odd u, and repairs them via Hering [13] and Smith [31]. That repair is presented only as a sketch, which is a real proof-completeness/correctness limitation for the exceptional n, but it is not circularity. The square-sieve bound (1.3) is derived in the text from Lemmas 2.6–2.9 via Heath-Brown's square sieve, and the trinomial bound (1.4) is reduced to a Pellian equation and a standard divisor/point-counting estimate, again with no fitted parameter or prediction-by-construction. The appendix's admission of an omitted-proof sketch should be weighed as a correctness risk, not as evidence that the derivation reduces to its own inputs.
Assumptions & free parameters
assumptions (4)
- standard math Deligne's bound on exponential sums over finite fields (Iwaniec-Kowalski [16, Section 11.11]) applies to the two-variable sums in Lemma 2.7 because the leading homogeneous form is nonsingular.
- domain assumption Dietmann's [9, Corollary 1 and Lemma 11] are correct as needed for Lemmas 3.1 and 3.2.
- domain assumption Hering's Satz 1 [13] and Smith's theorem [31] as invoked in the Section 6 amendment are correct.
- standard math Prime number theorem for dyadic intervals: π(2z)-π(z) ≫ z/log z.
Cite this review
Pith. "Pith review of Discriminants of Fields Generated by Polynomials of Given Height." pith.science (2026). https://pith.science/paper/KMXA23TL
@misc{pith2026190900135,
author = {Pith},
title = {Pith review of: Discriminants of Fields Generated by Polynomials of Given Height},
year = {2026},
howpublished = {\url{https://pith.science/paper/KMXA23TL}},
note = {Machine review of arXiv:1909.00135}
}
abstract
We obtain upper bounds for the number of monic irreducible polynomials over $\mathbb Z$ of a fixed degree $n$ and a growing height $H$ for which the field generated by one of its roots has a given discriminant. We approach it via counting square-free parts of polynomial discriminants via two complementing approaches. In turn, this leads to a lower bound on the number of distinct discriminants of fields generated by roots of polynomials of degree $n$ and height at most $H$. We also give an upper bound for the number of trinomials of bounded height with given square-free part of the discriminant, improving previous results of I. E. Shparlinski (2010).
Reference graph
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