On the smallest Salem series in \(\mathbb F_{q}((X^{-1}))\) (Q2339314)

Let \(n \geq 3\). The authors prove that the equation \(Y^n-XY^{n-1}-Y+X-1=0\) has a unique root \(w_n\) in the formal power series \({\mathbb F}_q((X^{-1}))\) of degree \(\geq 1\) and this \(w_n\) is the smallest Salem series of algebraic degree \(n\) in \({\mathbb F}_q((X^{-1}))\). From this they derive that there is no smallest Salem series in \({\mathbb F}_q((X^{-1}))\). It is also shown that the smallest Salem series \(w_n\) of degree \(n\) is well approximable in the field \({\mathbb F}_{2^m}((X^{-1}))\) for infinitely many \(n \geq 2\).