Sieve-type lower bounds for the Mahler measure of polynomials on subarcs (Q643203)

Given real numbers \(\alpha<\beta\), a version of the Mahler measure of the polynomial \(Q\) in a subarc \([\alpha,\beta]\) is defined as \[ M_{0} (Q, [\alpha,\beta]):=\exp\bigg( \frac{1}{\beta-\alpha} \int_{\alpha}^{\beta} \log |Q(e^{it})| \,dt\bigg), \] so that \(M_0(Q,[0,2\pi])\) is the usual Mahler measure. For the \(p\)th Fekete polynomial \[ f_p(z)=\sum_{k=1}^{p-1} \bigg(\frac{k}{p}\bigg) z^k, \] where \(p\) is a prime number and \(\big(\frac{k}{p}\big)\) is the Legendre symbol, the author and \textit{D. S. Lubinsky} proved earlier in [Can. J. Math. 59, No. 4, 730--741 (2007; Zbl 1166.41004)] that for every \(\varepsilon>0\) there is a constant \(c(\varepsilon)\) such that \[ M_0(f_p,[0,2\pi]) \geq (1/2-\varepsilon) \sqrt{p} \] for all primes \(p \geq c(\varepsilon)\). In this paper, the author proves that there is an absolute constant \(c>0\) such that \[ M_0(f_p,[\alpha,\beta]) \geq c \sqrt{p} \] for all prime numbers \(p\) and for all real numbers \(\alpha, \beta\) satisfying \[ \frac{4\pi}{p} \leq \frac{(\log p)^{3/2}}{\sqrt{p}} \leq \beta-\alpha \leq 2\pi. \] The proof is analytic.