Quasi-equivalence of Heights and Runge's Theorem

Abstract

Let $P$ be a polynomial that depends on two variables $X$ and $Y$ and has algebraic coefficients. If $x$ and $y$ are algebraic numbers with $P(x,y)=0$, then by work of N\'eron $h(x)/q$ is asymptotically equal to $h(y)/p$ where $p$ and $q$ are the partial degrees of $P$ in $X$ and $Y$, respectively. In this paper we compute a completely explicit bound for $|h(x)/q-h(y)/p|$ in terms of $P$ which grows asymptotically as $\max\{h(x),h(y)\}^{1/2}$. We apply this bound to obtain a simple version of Runge's Theorem on the integral solutions of certain polynomial equations.