Salem numbers of trace -2, and a conjecture of Estes and Guralnick (Q897551)

In 1993 \textit{D. R. Estes} and \textit{R. M. Guralnick} [Linear Algebra Appl. 192, 83--99 (1993; Zbl 0791.15012)] conjectured that every separable totally real monic polynomial over \(\mathbb Z\) is the minimal polynomial of a symmetric matrix with rational integral entries, and proved it for polynomials having degree \(\leq4\). In 2008 \textit{E. Dobrowolski} [Can. Math. Bull. 51, No. 1, 57--59 (2008; Zbl 1132.11312)] produced infinitely many counterexamples of large degrees, and later \textit{J. McKee} [Lect. Notes Comput. Sci. 6197, 270--284 (2010; Zbl 1260.11017)] found further counterexamples, one of them being of degree \(6\). In this paper, the authors show that there are counterexamples for every degree \(\geq6\). During the proof they establish the existence of Salem numbers of any even degree \(\geq24\) with trace \(-2\). The question whether the Estes-Guralnick conjecture is true for polynomials of degree \(5\) remains open.