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On the p-adic Skolem Problem

Authors: Piotr Bacik, Joël Ouaknine, David Purser, and James Worrell

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 364, 43rd International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2026)


Abstract
The Skolem Problem asks to determine whether a given linear recurrence sequence (LRS) has a zero term. Showing decidability of this problem is equivalent to giving an effective proof of the Skolem-Mahler-Lech Theorem, which asserts that a non-degenerate LRS has finitely many zeros. The latter result was proven over 90 years ago via an ineffective method showing that such an LRS has only finitely many p-adic zeros. In this paper we consider the problem of determining whether a given LRS has a p-adic zero, as well as the corresponding function problem of computing exact representations of all p-adic zeros. We present algorithms for both problems and report on their implementation. The output of the algorithms is unconditionally correct, and termination is guaranteed subject to the p-adic Schanuel Conjecture (a standard number-theoretic hypothesis concerning the p-adic exponential function). While these algorithms do not solve the Skolem Problem, they can be exploited to find natural-number and rational zeros under additional hypotheses. To illustrate this, we apply our results to show decidability of the Simultaneous Skolem Problem (determine whether two coprime linear recurrences have a common natural-number zero), again subject to the p-adic Schanuel Conjecture.

Cite as

Piotr Bacik, Joël Ouaknine, David Purser, and James Worrell. On the p-adic Skolem Problem. In 43rd International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 364, pp. 8:1-8:20, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)


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@InProceedings{bacik_et_al:LIPIcs.STACS.2026.8,
  author =	{Bacik, Piotr and Ouaknine, Jo\"{e}l and Purser, David and Worrell, James},
  title =	{{On the p-adic Skolem Problem}},
  booktitle =	{43rd International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2026)},
  pages =	{8:1--8:20},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-412-3},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2026},
  volume =	{364},
  editor =	{Mahajan, Meena and Manea, Florin and McIver, Annabelle and Thắng, Nguy\~{ê}n Kim},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2026.8},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-254979},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2026.8},
  annote =	{Keywords: Skolem Problem, p-adic Schanuel Conjecture, Skolem Conjecture, Exponential Local-Global Principle, exponential polynomial}
}
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