In this paper we extend K. Rubin's methods to prove the Gras conjecture for abelian extensions of a given imaginary quadratic field $k$ and prime numbers $p$ that divide the number of roots of unity in $k$.

Let $d>1$ be a square-free integer. Power residue criteria for the fundamental unit $\varepsilon_d$ of the real quadratic fields $\QQ (\sqrt{d})$ modulo a prime $p$ (for certain $d$ and $p$) are proved by means of class field theory. These results will then be interpreted as criteria for the solvability of the negative Pell equation $x^2 - dp^2 y^2 = -1$. The most important solvability criterion deals with all $d$ for which $\QQ (\sqrt{-d})$ has an elementary abelian 2-class group and $p\equiv 5\pmod{8}$ or $p\equiv 9\pmod{16}$.

Erratum to {\it The Lehmer Polynomial and Pretzel Links}, Canad. J. Math. {\bf 44}(2001), 440--451.

In this paper we find a formula for the Alexander polynomial $\Delta_{p_1,\dots,p_k} (x)$ of pretzel knots and links with $(p_1,\dots,p_k, \nega 1)$ twists, where $k$ is odd and $p_1,\dots,p_k$ are positive integers. The polynomial $\Delta_{2,3,7} (x)$ is the well-known Lehmer polynomial, which is conjectured to have the smallest Mahler measure among all monic integer polynomials. We confirm that $\Delta_{2,3,7} (x)$ has the smallest Mahler measure among the polynomials arising as $\Delta_{p_1,\dots,p_k} (x)$.