Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 November 2018
Purely simple Kronecker modules $M$, built from an algebraically closed field
$K$, arise from a triplet
$\left( m,\,h,\,\alpha \right)$ where
$m$ is a positive integer,
$h:\,K\,\cup \,\{\infty \}\,\to \,\{\infty ,\,0,\,1,\,2,\,3,\,.\,.\,.\,\}$ is a height function, and
$\alpha$ is a
$K$-linear functional on the space
$K\left( X \right)$ of rational functions in one variable
$X$. Every pair
$\left( h,\,\alpha \right)$ comes with a polynomial
$f$ in
$K\left( X \right)\left[ Y\, \right]$ called the regulator. When the module
$M$ admits non-trivial endomorphisms,
$f$ must be linear or quadratic in
$Y$. In that case
$M$ is purely simple if and only if
$f$ is an irreducible quadratic. Then the
$K$-algebra End
$M$ embeds in the quadratic function field
${K\left( X \right)\left[ Y\, \right]}/{(f\,)}\;$. For some height functions
$h$ of infinite support
$I$, the search for a functional
$\alpha$ for which
$\left( h,\,\alpha \right)$ has regulator
$0$ comes down to having functions
$\eta \,:\,I\,\to \,K$ such that no planar curve intersects the graph of
$\eta$ on a cofinite subset. If
$K$ has characterictic not
$2$, and the triplet
$\left( m,\,h,\,\alpha \right)$ gives a purely-simple Kronecker module
$M$ having non-trivial endomorphisms, then
$h$ attains the value
$\infty$ at least once on
$\text{K}\,\cup \,\text{ }\!\!\{\!\!\text{ }\infty \text{ }\!\!\}\!\!\text{ }$ and
$h$ is finite-valued at least twice on
$\text{K}\,\cup \,\text{ }\!\!\{\!\!\text{ }\infty \text{ }\!\!\}\!\!\text{ }$. Conversely all these
$h$ form part of such triplets. The proof of this result hinges on the fact that a rational function
$r$ is a perfect square in
$K\left( X \right)$ if and only if
$r$ is a perfect square in the completions of
$K\left( X \right)$ with respect to all of its valuations.