Sister Beiter conjecture
In mathematics, the Sister Beiter conjecture is a conjecture about the size of coefficients of ternary cyclotomic polynomials (i.e. where the index is the product of three prime numbers). It is named after Marion Beiter, a Catholic nun who first proposed it in 1968.[1]
Background
For the maximal coefficient (in absolute value) of the cyclotomic polynomial is denoted by .
Let be three prime numbers. In this case the cyclotomic polynomial is called ternary. In 1895, A. S. Bang[2] proved that . This implies the existence of such that .
Statement
Sister Beiter conjectured[1] in 1968 that . This was later disproved, but a corrected Sister Beiter conjecture was put forward as .
Status
A preprint[3] from 2023 explains the history in detail and claims to prove this corrected conjecture. Explicitly it claims to prove
References
- Beiter, Marion (April 1968). "Magnitude of the Coefficients of the Cyclotomic Polynomial ". The American Mathematical Monthly. 75 (4): 370–372. doi:10.2307/2313416. JSTOR 2313416.
- Bang, A.S. (1895). "Om Ligningen ". Tidsskr. Math. 6: 6–12.
- Juran, Branko; Moree, Pieter; Riekert, Adrian; Schmitz, David; Völlmecke, Julian (2023). "A proof of the corrected Sister Beiter cyclotomic coefficient conjecture inspired by Zhao and Zhang". arXiv:2304.09250 [math.NT].