Heights on Groups and Small Multiplicative Dependencies

Abstract: We generalize the absolute logarithmic Weil height from elements of the multiplicative group of algebraic numbers modulo torsion, to finitely generated subgoups. The height of a finitely generated subgroup is shown to equal the volume of a certain naturally occurring, convex, symmetric subset of Euclidean space. This connection leads to a bound on the norm of integer vectors that give multiplicative dependencies among finite sets of algebraic numbers.