We characterise number fields without a unit primitive element, and we exhibit some families of such fields with low degree. Also, we prove that a noncyclotomic totally complex number field $K$, with degree $2d$ where $d$ is odd, and having a unit primitive element, can be generated by a reciprocal integer if and only if $K$ is not CM and the Galois group of the normal closure of $K$ is contained in the hyperoctahedral group $B_{d}$.

We present a general construction of Salem numbers via rational functions whose zeros and poles mostly lie on the unit circle and satisfy an interlacing condition. This extends and unifies earlier work. We then consider the “obvious” limit points of the set of Salem numbers produced by our theorems and show that these are all Pisot numbers, in support of a conjecture of Boyd. We then show that all Pisot numbers arise in this way. Combining this with a theorem of Boyd, we produce all Salem numbers via an interlacing construction.

Let $q$ be an algebraic integer of degree $d\ge 2$. Consider the rank of the multiplicative subgroup of ${{\mathbb{C}}^{*}}$ generated by the conjugates of $q$. We say $q$ is of full rank if either the rank is $d-1$ and $q$ has norm $\pm 1$, or the rank is $d$. In this paper we study some properties of $\mathbb{Z}[q]$ where $q$ is an algebraic integer of full rank. The special cases of when $q$ is a Pisot number and when $q$ is a Pisot-cyclotomic number are also studied. There are four main results.

1. (1) If $q$ is an algebraic integer of full rank and $n$ is a fixed positive integer, then there are only finitely many $m$ such that $\text{disc}\left( \mathbb{Z}\left[ {{q}^{m}} \right] \right)=\text{disc}\left( \mathbb{Z}\left[ {{q}^{n}} \right] \right)$.

2. (2) If $q$ and $r$ are algebraic integers of degree $d$ of full rank and $\mathbb{Z}[{{q}^{n}}]=\mathbb{Z}[{{r}^{n}}]$ for infinitely many $n$, then either $q=\omega {r}'$ or $q=\text{Norm}{{(r)}^{2/d}}\omega /r'$ , where $r'$ is some conjugate of $r$ and $\omega $ is some root of unity.

3. (3) Let $r$ be an algebraic integer of degree at most 3. Then there are at most 40 Pisot numbers $q$ such that $\mathbb{Z}[q]=\mathbb{Z}[r]$.

4. (4) There are only finitely many Pisot-cyclotomic numbers of any fixed order.

We define a new height function $\mathcal{R}(\alpha)$, the Remak height of an algebraic number $\alpha$. We give sharp upper and lower bounds for $\mathcal{R}(\alpha)$ in terms of the classical Mahler measure $M(\alpha)$. Study of when one of these bounds is exact leads us to consideration of conjugate sets of algebraic numbers of norm $\pm 1$ lying on two circles centred at 0. We give a complete characterization of such conjugate sets. They turn out to be of two types: one related to certain cubic algebraic numbers, and the other related to a non-integer generalization of Salem numbers which we call extended Salem numbers.

AMS 2000 Mathematics subject classification: Primary 11R06

We prove that every real algebraic integer $\alpha$ is expressible by a difference of two Mahler measures of integer polynomials. Moreover, these polynomials can be chosen in such a way that they both have the same degree as that of $\alpha$, say $d$, one of these two polynomials is irreducible and another has an irreducible factor of degree $d$, so that $\alpha =M\left( P \right)-bM\left( Q \right)$ with irreducible polynomials $P,Q\in \mathbb{Z}\left[ X \right]$ of degree $d$ and a positive integer $b$. Finally, if $d\le 3$, then one can take $b=1$.

For a fixed algebraic number α we discuss how closely α can be approximated by a root of a {0, +1, -1} polynomial of given degree. We show that the worst rate of approximation tends to occur for roots of unity, particularly those of small degree. For roots of unity these bounds depend on the order of vanishing, k, of the polynomial at α.

In particular we obtain the following. Let BN denote the set of roots of all {0, +1, -1} polynomials of degree at most N and BN(α k) the roots of those polynomials that have a root of order at most k at α. For a Pisot number α in (1, 2] we show that

and for a root of unity α that

We study in detail the case of α = 1, where, by far, the best approximations are real. We give fairly precise bounds on the closest real root to 1. When k = 0 or 1 we can describe the extremal polynomials explicitly.