Polynomials With {0, +1, -1} Coefficients and a Root Close to a Given Point (Q4385153)

A \(\{0,+1,-1\}\) polynomial is one with all coefficients in the set \(\{0,+1,-1\}\). Let \({\mathcal B}_N\) be the set of roots of all \(\{0,+1,-1\}\) polynomials of degree at most \(N\). Motivated by the intriguing appearance of plots of the sets \({\mathcal B}_N\) for various \(N\), the authors are interested in how closely a given algebraic number \(\alpha\) can be approximated by numbers from \({\mathcal B}_N\). They prove that the worst rate of approximation tends to occur if \(\alpha\) is a root of unity. For example, they show that if \(\alpha\) is a Pisot number in \((1,2]\) then \[ \min_{\beta \in {\mathcal B}_N \setminus \{\alpha\}} \log | \alpha-\beta| \sim - (\log \alpha)N. \] This behaviour is typical for \(\alpha\) which are themselves roots of \(\{0,+1,-1\}\) polynomials or power series. However, for \(\alpha\) a root of unity one has \[ \min_{\beta \in {\mathcal B}_N \setminus \{\alpha\}} \log | \alpha-\beta| \gg - \sqrt{N} \log N. \] The cases \(\alpha = \pm 1\) are considered in more detail and the behaviour contrasted with approximation by roots of \(\{-1,+1\}\) polynomials and \(\{0,1\}\) polynomials (see p. 898).