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Specializations Of One-Parameter Families Of Polynomials, F Hajir, S Wong

Mathematics and Statistics Department Faculty Publication Series

Let K be a number field, and suppose λ(x,t)∈K[x,t] is irreducible over K(t). Using algebraic geometry and group theory, we describe conditions under which the K-exceptional set of λ, i.e. the set of α∈K for which the specialized polynomial λ(x,α) is K-reducible, is finite. We give three applications of the methods we develop. First, we show that for any fixed n≥10, all but finitely many K-specializations of the degree n generalized Laguerre polynomial L n (t) (x) are K-irreducible and have Galois group S n . Second, we study specializations of the modular polynomial Φ n (x,t) (which vanishes on …