Small points on a multiplicative group and class number problem (Q2642752)

In the first section, the author gives a survey of recent results, obtained by himself and others, related to Lehmer's problem concerning the height of an algebraic number. In Section 2 he gives an overview of conjectures and recent results, obtained by himself in collaboration with S. David, related to lower bounds for heights of points on algebraic subvarieties of the \(n\)-dimensional torus \(\mathbb G_m^n\). Finally, in Section 3 he gives a survey of recent results, obtained by himself together with Dvornicich, which give for certain classes of algebraic number fields, lower bounds for the exponents of the class groups of these fields. These lower bounds are obtained by combining height lower bounds with analytic number theory. Some of the results are proved under assumption of the generalized Riemann hypothesis for the Dedekind zeta functions of the number fields under consideration.