A hypothetical algorithm which computes an upper bound for the heights of solutions of a Diophantine equation whose solution set is finite

Abstract

Let f(n)=1 if n=1, 2^(2^(n-2)) if n \in {2,3,4,5}, (2+2^(2^(n-4)))^(2^(n-4)) if n \in {6,7,8,...}. We conjecture that if a system T \subseteq {x_i+1=x_k, x_i \cdot x_j=x_k: i,j,k \in {1,...,n}} has only finitely many solutions in integers x_1,...,x_n, then each such solution (x_1,...,x_n) satisfies |x_1|,...,|x_n| \leq f(n). We prove that the function f cannot be decreased and the conjecture implies that there is an algorithm which takes as input a Diophantine equation, returns an integer, and this integer is greater than the heights of integer (non-negative integer, positive integer, rational) solutions, if the solution set is finite. We show that the conjecture and Matiyasevich's conjecture on finite-fold Diophantine representations are jointly inconsistent.