FIXED DIVISOR OF A MULTIVARIATE POLYNOMIAL AND GENERALIZED FACTORIALS IN SEVERAL VARIABLES

FIXED DIVISOR OF A MULTIVARIATE POLYNOMIAL AND GENERALIZED FACTORIALS IN SEVERAL VARIABLES

We define new generalized factorials in several variables over an arbitrary subset ${\underline{S}}{\subseteq}R^n$, where R is a Dedekind domain and n is a positive integer. We then study the properties of the fixed divisor $d(\underline{S},f)$ of a multivariate polynomial $f{\in}R[x_1,x_2,{\ldots},x_n]$. We generalize the results of Polya, Bhargava, Gunji & McQuillan and strengthen that of Evrard, all of which relate the fixed divisor to generalized factorials of ${\underline{S}}$. We also express $d(\underline{S},f)$ in terms of the images $f({\underline{a}})$ of finitely many elements ${\underline{a}}{\in}R^n$, generalizing a result of Hensel, and in terms of the coefficients of f under explicit bases.