Fermat and Mersenne numbers in $k$-Pell sequence

Abstract

For an integer $k\geq 2$, let $(P_n^{(k)})_{n\geq 2-k}$ be the $k$-generalized Pell sequence, which starts with $0,\ldots,0,1$ ($k$ terms) and each term afterwards is defined by the recurrence
$P_n^{(k)}=2P_{n-1}^{(k)}+P_{n-2}^{(k)}+\cdots +P_{n-k}^{(k)},\quad \text{for all }n \geq 2.$
For any positive integer $n$, a number of the form $2^n+1$ is referred to as a Fermat number, while a number of the form $2^n-1$ is referred to as a Mersenne number. The goal of this paper is to determine Fermat and Mersenne numbers which are members of the $k$-generalized Pell sequence. More precisely, we solve the Diophantine equation $P^{(k)}_n=2^a\pm 1$ in positive integers $n, k, a$ with $k \geq 2$, $a\geq 1$. We prove a theorem which asserts that, if the Diophantine equation $P^{(k)}_n=2^a\pm 1$ has a solution $(n,a,k)$ in positive integers $n, k, a$ with $k \geq 2$, $a\geq 1$, then we must have that $(n,a,k)\in \{(1,1,k),(3,2,k),(5,5,3)\}$. As a result of our theorem, we deduce that the number $1$ is the only Mersenne number and the number $5$ is the only Fermat number in the $k$-Pell sequence.