Mahler measure and computation of universal constants for polynomials in \(n\) variables (Q1337528)

This paper is concerned with inequalities for plurisubharmonic functions \(f(z)\) of \(n\) complex variables which have logarithmic growth at \(\infty\). If \(M (f,0,R)\) denotes the maximum of \(f\) on the ball \(B^{2n} (0,R)\) then assume \(M(f,0,R) \sim \sigma \log R\) for some \(0 < \sigma < \infty\), and say that \(f\) has logarithmic type \(\sigma\). In particular, if \(P\) is a polynomial of degree \(\sigma\), then \(f = \log | P |\) is such a function. Let \(m (f,0,R)\) denote the average of \(f\) over the torus \(\prod \{| x_ i | = R\}\), and let \(\lambda (f,0,R)\) be the average of \(f\) over the sphere of radius \(R\). The author considers the question of obtaining constants independent of \(R\) for the inequalities: \[ 0 \leq m (f,0,R) - \lambda (f,0,R) \leq \sigma C_ n,\tag{A} \] \[ 0 \leq M (f,0,R) - \lambda (f,0,R) \leq \sigma \gamma_ n\tag{B} \] Assuming that \(f_ k\) is of logarithmic type \(\sigma_ k\) for \(k = 1, \dots, m\), and that \(f = \sum f_ k\), the author seeks a constant \(\delta_ n\) independent of \(m\) and \(R\) such that \[ \sum^ m_ 1 M(f_ k, 0, R) \leq M (\sum^ m_ 1 f_ k, 0,R) + \sigma \delta_ n. \tag{C} \] For (A), the best constant is shown to be \(C_ n = {1 \over 2} \sum^{n-1}_{k=1} 1/k\). For (B), it is shown that \({1 \over 2} \log n \gg \gamma_ n \gg \log n\). In fact, \textit{Z. Blocki} [Ann. Pol. Math. 56, 213-217 (1992; Zbl 0767.31007)] has obtained the exact value of this constant in the case where \(f = \log | P |\), and shown that it is asymptotically \({1 \over 2} \log n\). Using (B), the author then shows that \(\delta_ n = \gamma_ n\) is a suitable constant in (C). Specializing to the case where \(f_ k = \log | P_ k |\), where the \(P_ k\) are polynomials, and using Blocki's sharp constant, this gives an inequality of the form \[ \| P_ 1 \|_ S \cdots \| P_ m \|_ S \leq A^ \sigma_ n\;\| P_ 1, \dots, P_ m \|_ S, \] where \(A_ n \sim \sqrt n\), and \(\| P \|_ S\) denotes the maximum of \(P\) on the unit sphere. To see that this is asymptotically sharp, it suffices to take \(P_ k(z) = z_ k\) for which \(\| P_ k \|_ S = 1\), while \(\| P_ 1 \dots P_ n \| = (1/ \sqrt n)^ n\), by the arithmetic-geometric mean inequality. This should be compared with the sharp inequality of \textit{K. Mahler} [J. Lond. Math. Soc. 37, 341-344 (1962; Zbl 0105.063)], that \[ \| P_ 1 \|_ T \cdots \| P_ m \|_ T \leq 2^ \sigma\;\| P_ 1 \cdots P_ m \|_ T, \] where \(\| P \|_ T\) denotes the maximum of \(P\) on the unit torus (polycircle).