A classification of (some) Pisot-cyclotomic numbers (Q2581371): Difference between revisions

The authors call \(q\) a \textit{Pisot-cyclotomic number} if it is a Pisot number such that the ring \({\mathbb Z}[q]\) is equal to the ring \({\mathbb Z}[2 \cos(2\pi/n)]\) for some positive integer \(n\). Then such a Pisot-cyclotomic number is said to have a symmetry of order \(n.\) Pisot-cyclotomic numbers are known to have applications in the study of quasicrystals and quasilattices. Although Pisot numbers exist in every real number field, the additional arithmetical condition \({\mathbb Z}[q]={\mathbb Z}[2 \cos(2\pi/n)]\) is not always satisfied, so it is not clear for which \(n\) there are Pisot-cyclotomic numbers with symmetry of order \(n.\) In this paper, the authors consider Pisot-cyclotomic numbers of degree at most \(6.\) In each case, in order to establish whether there is a particular Pisot-cyclotomic number with symmetry of order \(n\) one needs to find out whether a corresponding Diophantine equation (often Thue equation) has integer solutions or not. Among all examples given in this paper, the Pisot-cyclotomic number \(q\) whose minimal polynomial is \(x^6-30 x^5-60x^4-32x^3+3x^2+6x+1\) has the highest symmetry \(36.\) Combining computer solution of Diophantine equations with various earlier results on some specific Diophantine equations, the authors prove that their list of Pisot-cyclotomic numbers of degree 2, 3, and 4 is complete. In conclusion, since the above mentioned degree \(6\) symmetry \(36\) example is the ''largest'' known example, they ask several natural questions about Pisot-cyclotomic numbers of higher symmetry and higher degree.