On the unit equation over cyclic number fields of prime degree

Abstract

Let $\ell \ne 3$ be a prime. We show that there are only finitely many cyclic number fields $F$ of degree $\ell$ for which the unit equation $$\lambda + \mu = 1, \qquad \lambda,~\mu \in \mathcal{O}_F^\times$$ has solutions. Our result is effective. For example, we deduce that the only cyclic quintic number field for which the unit equation has solutions is $\mathbb{Q}(\zeta_{11})^+$.