ON THE TWO-DIMENSIONAL JACOBIAN CONJECTURE.

I: THE
SQUARE-FREE CASE

ETHAN HURST, KYUNGYONG LEE, AND GEORGE D. NASR

Abstract. We introduce a new conjecture, which is equivalent to the two-dimensional

Jacobian conjecture. We prove this new conjecture for the generic case.

1. introduction

The jacobian conjecture, raised by Keller [15], has been studied by many mathemati-
cians: a partial list of related results includes [1],[3],[4][5],[7],[9],[12],[13],[14],[17],[18],[19],
[21],[22],[23],[24],[25]. A survey is given in [11]. In this paper we exclusively deal with the
plane case.
Let K be an algebraically closed field of characteristic 0.

2. Set-up

A polynomial P is said to have a Jacobian mate Q if [P, Q] := detJ(P, Q) ∈ K. In this

case P and Q are called Jacobian polynomials and the pair (P, Q) is called a Jacobian pair.
Let Auto K[x, y] be the subgroup of AutK[x, y] generated by the following automor-
phisms of K[x, y]:
  
x 7→ y x 7→ ax x→ 7 x + yu
τ: sa : for any a ∈ K ∗ , ψu : for any u ∈ Z≥0 .
y 7→ x, y 7→ y y 7→ y
The following theorem, which is called Abhyankar’s reduction theorem, allows us to assume
that N (f ) has no edge with negative slope.
Theorem 2.1. [26, Theorem 10.2.18] Let f be a Jacobian polynomial and assume that N (f )
has an edge with a negative slope. Then there exists φ ∈ Auto K[x, y] such that
δ(φ(f )) < δ(f ).

The following assumptions are made throughout the series of our papers.
Assumptions 2.2. Suppose that all the edges of N (f ) and N (g) have non-negative slopes.
Assume also that f, g 6∈ K[x]∪K[y], which implies that N (f ) and N (g) are not line segments.
Then there are d1 , d2 , e1 , e2 ∈ Z>0 such that N (f ) is contained in the rectangle (0, 0)−(d1 , 0)−
(d1 , d2 ) − (0, d2 ) (resp. N (g) is contained in the rectangle (0, 0) − (e1 , 0) − (e1 , e2 ) − (0, e2 )),
and (d1 , d2 ) ∈ N (f ) (resp. (e1 , e2 ) ∈ N (g)). It is well known that N (f ) and N (g) are similar
1
2 ETHAN HURST, KYUNGYONG LEE, AND GEORGE D. NASR

if f and g form a Jacobian pair (replace J(f, g) ∈ K?). Hence there are a, b, m1 , m2 ∈ Z>0
such that d1 = am1 , d2 = am2 , e1 = bm1 , e2 = bm2 and gcd(a, b) = 1.
Conjecture 2.3. Under Assumptions, [f, g] = 0.
Pd1 Pd2
fi,j xi y j and g = ei=0
P 1 Pe2 i j
Let f = i=0 j=0 j=0 gi,j x y with fi,j , gi,j ∈ K.

For each i ∈ {0, ..., d1 }, let fi,∗ = dj=0 fi,j y j ∈ K[y]. For each j ∈ {0, ..., d2 }, let f∗,j =
P2
Pd1 i d d−1
i=0 fi,j x ∈ K[x]. Similarly, we define gi,∗ and g∗,j . So f = fd (x)y + fd−1 (x)y + ··· =
and g =.
Let d ∈ {d1 , d2 }.
WLOG, assume that the coefficient of the highest degree term (i.e. xd1 y d2 and xe1 y e2 in
our case) of each f and g is equal to 1.
Theorem 2.4. Either let d = d1 , e = e1 , fα = fα,∗ for all α ∈ {}, and ge−µ = for all µ ∈ {},
or let fα = f∗,α for all α. Then we have
P 
µ d−1
X X  (e − γ)/d  α=0 ν γ,α ! (e−γ)/d−Pd−1 ν Y d−1
ge−µ = cγ Pd−1 Qd−1 fd α=0 γ,α
fανγ,α ,
γ=0
ν
α=0 γ,α α=0 νγ,α ! α=0

where ...

Proof. The proof is the same as that of [26, Theorem 1]. 

When d, e and γ are given in the context, we simply denote

 
 Pd−1 ν
(e − γ)/d α=0 γ,α !

(γ)
Cνγ,0 ,...,νγ,d−1 = Pd−1 Qd−1
α=0 νγ,α α=0 νγ,α !
When νγ,α = 0 for some α, we omit νγ,α . For example
a/b 1/a
Since fd = ge , let Pm = fd ∈ K[x].

fd = Pma

The following assumptions are made in this paper. In the forthcoming papers, these
assumptions will be weakened.
Assumptions 2.5. Suppose that Pm is square-free, i.e., none of its factors is a square.
Theorem 2.6.
f = Pma + ca−2 Pma−2 + ca−3 Pma−3 + · · · + c0 Pm0 .
and
g = Pmb + c0a−2 Pmb−2 + c0b−3 Pmb−3 + · · · + c00 Pm0 .
for some Pm .
 ON THE TWO-DIMENSIONAL JACOBIAN CONJECTURE. I 3

Corollary 2.7. If
f = Pma + ca−2 Pma−2 + ca−3 Pma−3 + · · · + c0 Pm0 .
and
g = Pmb + c0a−2 Pmb−2 + c0b−3 Pmb−3 + · · · + c00 Pm0 .
for some Pm , then [f, g] = 0.
Lemma 2.8. cγ = 0 if γ is not divisible by m.
(γ)
Lemma 2.9. Cνγ,0 ,...,νγ,d−1 6= 0.
Lemma 2.10. For j ∈ {1, ..., a − 1}, fd−j is divisible by Pma−j .

Proof. We will prove that fd−1 is divisible by Pmi , fd−2 is divisible by Pmi−1 , ..., fd−i−1 is
divisible by Pm for i ∈ {0, 1, ..., a − 1},using induction on i.
The base case of i = 0 is obvious. Suppose that fd−1 is divisible by Pmi−1 , fd−2 is
divisible... for i ∈ {1, ..., a − 1}. Write fd−1 = Pmi−1 Q and fd−2 = .... Let q and r be positive
integers such that b = qa + r (hence e = qd + rm) and r ∈ {1, ..., a − 1}.

(0) b/a−(iq+1) iq+1

ge−(iq+1) = Ciq+1 fd fd−1 + ···

Substituting Pma into fd and Pmi−1 Q into fd−1 and ... into fd−2 , ... , we get
1 (0)
ge−(iq+1) = (iq+1)a−b (Ciq+1 (Pmi−1 Q)iq+1 + Pm h)
Pm
for some polynomial h. [THIS NEEDS A PROOF !!]

1 (0)
ge−(iq+1) = (a−i+1)(iq+1)−b
(Ciq+1 Qiq+1 + Pm h).
Pm
We want to show (a − i + 1)(iq + 1) − b > 0. Writing (a − i + 1)(iq + 1) − b as a quadratic
function of i, we have
−qi2 + (aq + q − 1)i + a + 1 − b.
The symmetric axis of the graph of this concave-down function is i = aq+q−1
2q
, which is closer
to a − 1 than to 1. So, when i = 1, the function value achieves the minimum, which is equal
to a − r > 0.
Since ge−(iq+1) must be a polynomial and Pm is square-free, Lemma 2.9 implies Q is
divisible by Pm . Then fd−1 = Pmi−1 Q is divisible by Pmi . We are done by induction. 

Write fd−1 = aPma−1 Pm−1 for some polynomial Pm−1 .

Lemma 2.11. fd−2 = a2 Pma−2 Pm−1 + a1 Pma−1 Pm−2 for some polynomial Pm−2 .

2

Lemma 2.12. fd−3 = a3 Pma−3 Pm−1 a

Pm Pm−1 Pm−2 + a1 Pma−1 Pm−3 for some polyno-

3

a−2

+ 1,1
mial Pm−3 .

..
.
4 ETHAN HURST, KYUNGYONG LEE, AND GEORGE D. NASR

a a


a−1
Lemma 2.13. fd−m = m
Pma−m Pm−1
m
+ ··· + 1
Pm P0 for some polynomial P0 .

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