There are Salem numbers of every trace

James McKee, Chris Smyth

Published 2003-08-22, updated 2004-03-31Version 2

We show that there are Salem numbers of every trace. The nontrivial part of this result is for Salem numbers of negative trace. The proof has two main ingredients. The first is a novel construction, using pairs of polynomials whose zeros interlace on the unit circle, of polynomials of specified negative trace having one factor a Salem polynomial, with any other factors being cyclotomic. The second is an upper bound for the exponent of a maximal torsion coset of an algebraic torus in a variety defined over the rationals. This second result, which may be of independent interest, enables us to refine our construction to avoid getting cyclotomic factors, giving a Salem polynomial of any specified trace, with a trace-dependent bound for its degree. We show also how our interlacing construction can be easily adapted to produce Pisot polynomials, giving a simpler, and more explicit, construction for Pisot numbers of arbitrary trace than previously known.