English

Gaps in binary cyclotomic polynomials

Number Theory 2026-05-12 v2

Abstract

For odd prime numbers p<qp < q, let ΦpqZ[X]\Phi_{pq} \in \mathbb{Z}[X] be the binary cyclotomic polynomial of order pqpq. In this paper, we prove that the second gap of Φpq\Phi_{pq} is the maximum of r1r-1 and pr1p-r-1, where rr is the remainder of qq divided by pp. For qq congruent to ±1\pm 1 modulo pp, we determine the number of gaps for each possible length. To obtain these results, we develop a new approach in which the coefficients of Φpq\Phi_{pq} are described as concatenations of words arising from iterations of a circular map.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2507.19381,
  title  = {Gaps in binary cyclotomic polynomials},
  author = {Antonio Cafure and Eda Cesaratto},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2507.19381},
  year   = {2026}
}

Comments

This version includes a restructuring of the presentation. The results and proofs remain exactly the same. This paper was accepted for publication in the International Journal of Number Theory