Sequences of \(\{0,1\}\)-polynomials with exponents in arithmetic progression (Q2879616)

Fix natural numbers \(d\) and \(n\). Put \(f_j(x)=1+\sum_{i=0}^j x^{n+id}\). The author determines the first irreducible polynomial in the sequence \(f_1(x),f_2(x),\ldots\). Put \(g=\gcd(d,n)\), and set \(a=n/g\), \(b=(n+d)/g\) and \(c=(n+2d)/g\). Let \(p\) be the smallest odd prime not dividing \((n-d)/g\). Then the least positive integer \(k\) such that \(f_k(x)\) is irreducible is \(k=p-2\), except when \(p>3\) and exactly one or exactly three of \(a,b\) and \(c\) are odd. In this exceptional case, \(k=2\).NEWLINENEWLINE The proof is elementary and rests on (ir)reducibility lemmata of M. Filaseta, the author and L. Jones, W. Ljungren, W. H. Mills, E. Selmer and H. Tverberg.