Arithmetic groups and the Lehmer conjecture (Q2130523)

In this paper, the authors prove that a certain conjecture of Margulis for cocompact lattices and a fixed positive integer \(s\) is equivalent to Lehmer's conjecture about Mahler measure for integer polynomials with exactly \(s\) roots outside the unit circle. So far none is proved even for \(s=1\), which corresponds to the conjecture that the set of Salem numbers is bounded away from 1. The authors also discuss some other algebraic conjectures which would imply Lehmer's conjecture in full or in some special cases.