Littlewood Pisot numbers

Abstract

A Pisot number is a real algebraic integer, all of whose conjugates lie strictly inside the open unit disk; a Salem number is a real algebraic integer, all of whose conjugate roots are inside the closed unit disk, with at least one of them of modulus exactly 1. Pisot numbers have been studied extensively, and an algorithm to generate them is well known. Our main result characterises all Pisot numbers whose minimal polynomial is a Littlewood polynomial, one with { + 1 ,- 1 } -coefficients, and shows that they form an increasing sequence with limit 2. It is known that every Pisot number is a limit point, from both sides, of sequences of Salem numbers. We show that this remains true, from at least one side, for the restricted sets of Pisot and Salem numbers that are generated by Littlewood polynomials. Finally, we prove that every reciprocal Littlewood polynomial of odd degree n ⩾ 3 has at least three unimodular roots.