Pisot numbers, Salem numbers, and generalised polynomials (Q7020979)

The authors study sets of integers that can be defined by the vanishing of a generalised polynomial expression. A generalized polynomial is not exactly a polynomial but in some sense similar to a polynomial. For example, for any irrational \(\alpha \in (0,1)\) and any \(\beta \in {\mathbb R}\), the Sturmian sequence \(\lfloor \alpha(n+1)+\beta\rfloor- \lfloor \alpha n+\beta\rfloor\) that takes values \(0\) and \(1\) only is a generalized polynomial map. In Theorem A the authors show the following result. Let \(\beta\) be a Salem number and let \(n_1,n_2,n_3,\dots\) be an integer-valued linear recurrent sequence with characteristic polynomial the minimal polynomial of \(\beta\). Then the set \(n_i\), \(i =0,1,2,\dots\), is a generalised polynomial subset of \(\mathbb Z\). Similar results are obtained for Pisot numbers. Then, they introduce the notion of a generalised polynomial on a number field. They establish a connection between the existence of generalised polynomial expressions for sets of values of linear recurrent sequences and for subsemigroups of multiplicative groups of number fields.