On a certain family of inverse ternary cyclotomic polynomials (Q402613)

Let \(\Phi_n(x)\) be the \(n\)th cyclotomic polynomial. The quotient \(\Psi_n(x)=(x^n-1)/\Phi_n(x)\) is said to be the \(n\)th inverse cyclotomic polynomial. If \(n\) is a product of three distinct primes, say \(n=pqr\), \(p<q<r\), polynomials \(\Phi_n\) and \(\Psi_n\) are said to be ternary. The problem of coefficients of \(\Psi_n\) was introduced by \textit{P. Moree} [J. Number Theory 129, No. 3, 667--680 (2009; Zbl 1220.11037)]. In the ternary case he showed that coefficients of \(\Psi_{pqr}\) could be as large as \(p-1\) in absolute value, but could never be greater. The paper under review considers finer properties of the function \(C(pqr)\), which gives the maximum absolute value of the coefficients of \(\Psi_{pqr}\). It turns out that the case \(r>\phi(pq)\) is easily analyzed and of chief interest is the case \(q<r<\phi(pq)\). In this range the author succeeds in giving precise analysis for \(C(pqr)\) in the subcase where \(r\) is a positive linear combination of \(p\) and \(q\), that is, \(r=\alpha p+\beta q\), with \(\alpha,\beta>0\). The resulting formula is as follows. Let \(p'\), \(0<p'<q\), be the inverse of \(p\mod q\) and let \(q'\), \(0<q'<p\), be the inverse of \(q\mod p\). Put \(m_1=\min(\lceil p'/\alpha\rceil,\lceil q'/\beta\rceil)\) and \(m_2=\min(\lceil\frac{q-p'}\alpha\rceil,\lceil\frac{p-q'}\beta\rceil)\). Then \(C(pqr)=\max(m_1,m_2)\). As an immediate application we obtain characterization of flat (coefficients \(\pm1\) or 0) polynomials \(\Psi_{pqr}\). More precisely, if \(r\) is a positive linear combination of \(p\) and \(q\), polynomial \(\Psi_{pqr}\)is flat if and only if \(m_1=m_2=1\). Finally, the author discusses the requirements for \(m_i=1\) and shows that, in a certain precise sense, there is no shortage of flat \(\Psi_{pqr}\).