On a paper of Erdős and Szekeres (Q1713993)

Let \(M(a_1,\ldots,a_n)= \displaystyle\max_{|z|=1} \prod_{k=1}^n (1-z^{a_k})\) and \(f(n) = \displaystyle\min_{a_1,\ldots,a_n} M(a_1,\ldots,a_n)\), where \(a_1 \leq a_2 \leq \cdots \leq a_n\) are positive integers. \textit{P. Erdős} and \textit{G. Szekeres} [Acad. Serbe Sci., Publ. Inst. Math. 13, 29--34 (1959; Zbl 0097.03302)] (the paper is quoted incorrectly in the present paper) proved \(f(n)\geq \sqrt {2n}\), \(\lim f(n)^{1/n} = 1\) and expected \(f(n)<\exp(n^{1-c})\) for some positive \(c<1\). Their results were subject to several improvements. In the present paper the study is restricted to the condition \(a_1 < \dots < a_n\). The authors prove, among other results, that \[ M(a_1,\ldots,a_n)<\exp(c\sqrt{n\log n}\log\log n)\quad\text{if }n\asymp N/2, \tag{1} \] \[ M(a_1,\ldots,a_n)>\exp(\tau n)\quad\text{if }n>(1-\tau)N \tag{2} \] for a suitable positive constant \(\tau\) and if \(\{a_1 < \dots < a_n\}\subset \{1,\dots,N\}\) in both cases, \[ \log M(a_1,\ldots,a_n)\gg m^{1/2-\varepsilon}/\sqrt{\log n}\tag{3} \] provided the numbers \(\{a_1 < \cdots < a_n\}\) do not admit non-trivial \(0\), \(1\), \(-1\) relations.