Algebraic integers close to the unit circle (Q2211268)

For a polynomial \(P(x)=a(x-\alpha_{1})\cdots (x-\alpha_{d})\) \( \in \mathbb{Z}[x]\) of degree \(d\geq 2,\) let \(H(P)\) be its height, i. e., the maximum modulus of its coefficients, and let \(M(P):=|a|\max (1,|\alpha_{1}|)\cdots \max (1,|\alpha_{d}|)\) be its Mahler measure. In connection with the roots separation problem, the author introduces the quantity \[ \mathrm{symsep}(P):=\min_{\substack{ 1\leq i,j\leq d \\ \alpha_{i}\alpha_{j}\neq 1}} |\alpha_{i}\alpha_{j}-1|, \] and shows that \[ \mathrm{symsep}(P)\geq 2^{1-d(d-1)/2}M(P)^{1-d}. \] To prove that this last lower bound for \(\mathrm{symsep}(P)\) is the best possible when \(d\) is fixed and \(M(P)\rightarrow \infty ,\) he shows that for each \(d\geq 3\) and each large natural number \(n\) there is an irreducible polynomial \(P_{n}(x)=(x-\alpha_{1,n})(x-\alpha_{2,n})\cdots (x-\alpha_{d,n})\in \mathbb{Z}[x],\) where \(|\alpha_{1,n}|\leq |\alpha_{2,n}|\leq \cdots \leq |\alpha_{d,n}|,\) such that \(\alpha_{2,n}= \overline{\alpha_{1,n}},\) \[ \mathrm{symsep}(P_{n})=|\alpha_{1,n}\alpha_{2,n}-1|,\ |\alpha_{1,n}|^{2}-1\sim n^{1-d}\text{ as } n\rightarrow \infty , \] and \(M(P_{n})=H(P_{n})=n.\) The proof of this theorem uses a recent result of \textit{M. J. Uray} [``On the expansivity gap of integer polynomials'', Preprint, \url{arXiv:1905.06976}], giving some properties of the roots of \(P_{n}\).