Sums of two units in number fields

Abstract

Let $K$ be a number field with ring of integers $\mathcal{O}_K$. Let $\mathcal{N}_K$ be the set of positive integers $n$ such that there exist units $\varepsilon, \delta \in \mathcal{O}_K^\times$ satisfying $\varepsilon + \delta = n$. We show that $\mathcal{N}_K$ is a finite set if $K$ does not contain any real quadratic subfield. In the case where $K$ is a cubic field, we also explicitly classify all solutions to the unit equation $\varepsilon + \delta = n$ when $K$ is either cyclic or has negative discriminant.