English

A proof of the Conjecture of Lehmer

Number Theory 2021-11-01 v2 Dynamical Systems

Abstract

The Conjecture of Lehmer is proved to be true. The proof mainly relies upon: (i) the properties of the Parry Upper functions f\houseα(z)f_{\house{\alpha}}(z) associated with the dynamical zeta functions ζ\houseα(z)\zeta_{\house{\alpha}}(z) of the R\'enyi--Parry arithmetical dynamical systems (β\beta-shift), for α\alpha a reciprocal algebraic integer of house \houseα\house{\alpha} greater than 1, (ii) the discovery of lenticuli of poles of ζ\houseα(z)\zeta_{\house{\alpha}}(z) which uniformly equidistribute at the limit on a limit "lenticular" arc of the unit circle, when \houseα\house{\alpha} tends to 1+1^+, giving rise to a continuous lenticular minorant Mr(\houseα){\rm M}_{r}(\house{\alpha}) of the Mahler measure M(α){\rm M}(\alpha), (iii) the Poincar\'e asymptotic expansions of these poles and of this minorant Mr(\houseα){\rm M}_{r}(\house{\alpha}) as a function of the dynamical degree. The Conjecture of Schinzel-Zassenhaus is proved to be true. A Dobrowolski type minoration of the Mahler measure M(α)(\alpha) is obtained. The universal minorant of M(α)(\alpha) obtained is θη1>1\theta_{\eta}^{-1} > 1, for some integer η259\eta \geq 259, where θη\theta_{\eta} is the positive real root of 1+x+xη-1+x+x^{\eta}. The set of Salem numbers is shown to be bounded from below by the Perron number θ311=1.08545\theta_{31}^{-1} = 1.08545\ldots, dominant root of the trinomial 1z30+z31-1 - z^{30} + z^{31}. Whether Lehmer's number is the smallest Salem number remains open. For sequences of algebraic integers of Mahler measure smaller than the smallest Pisot number Θ=1.3247\Theta = 1.3247\ldots, whose houses have a dynamical degree tending to infinity, the Galois orbit measures of conjugates are proved to converge towards the Haar measure on z=1|z|=1 (limit equidistribution).The dynamical zeta function is used to investigate the domain of very small Mahler measures of algebraic integers in the range (1, 1.176280 . . .], if any.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1911.10590,
  title  = {A proof of the Conjecture of Lehmer},
  author = {Jean-Louis Verger-Gaugry},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1911.10590},
  year   = {2021}
}

Comments

Results unchanged, revised arguments in Section 5. "Mahler measures M(beta) < 1.176280" indicated explicitely everywhere. Theorem 10.1 and its proof: revised. arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:1709.03771