The Mahler measure of a three-variable family and an application to the Boyd-Lawton formula (Q2658345)

The (logarithmic) Mahler measure \(m(P)\) of a non-zero Laurent polynomial \( P\in \mathbb{C}[X_{1}^{\pm 1},\ldots,X_{n}^{\pm 1}]\) is defined by \[ m(P)=\int_{0}^{1}\ldots\int_{0}^{1}\log \left\vert P(\exp (i2\pi t_{1}),\ldots,\exp (i2\pi t_{n}))\right\vert dt_{1}\cdots dt_{n}. \] Mahler's measure was found to yield special values of the Riemann zeta function \(\zeta \) and other \(L\)-functions. Probably, the identity \( m(1+x+y+z)=7\zeta (3)/2\pi ^{2},\) due to Smyth was the first example of such relations (see for instance [\textit{D. W. Boyd}, Can. Math. Bull. 24, 453--469 (1981; Zbl 0474.12005); \textit{C. J. Smyth}, Bull. Austral. Math. Soc. 23(1), 49--63 (1981; Zbl 0442.10034)]). The authors of the paper under review prove a formula relating the Mahler measure of a polynomial of the form \[ P_{(a,b)}(x,y,z)=x^{a+b}+1+(x^{a}+1)y+(x^{b}-1)z,\text{ }(a,b)\in \mathbb{N} ^{2}\text{ and }\gcd (a,b)=1, \] to a combination of \(\zeta (3)\) and special values of the Bloch-Wigner dilogarithm, by evaluating a regulator. The proof of this result presents a new technical aspect concerning the integration of the regulator. Also, in the light of the Boyd-Lawton limit formula, they show that \( \lim_{(a,b)\rightarrow (\infty ,\infty )}m(P_{(a,b)})=\) \( m(xw+1+(w+1)y+(x-1)z),\) and so, by Theorem 1 of [\textit{C. D'Andrea} and the second author, J. Pure Appl. Algebra 209, No. 2, 393--410 (2007; Zbl 1110.11020)], \(\lim_{(a,b)\rightarrow (\infty ,\infty )}m(P_{(a,b)})=9\zeta (3)/2\pi ^{2}.\)