[Math] English reference for a result of Kronecker

nt.number-theorypolynomialsreference-request

Kronecker's paper Zwei Sätze über Gleichungen mit ganzzahligen Coefficienten apparently proves the following result that I'd like to reference:

Let $f$ be a monic polynomial with integer coefficients in $x$. If all roots of $f$ have absolute value at most 1, then $f$ is a product of cyclotomic polynomials and/or a power of $x$ (that is, all nonzero roots are roots of unity).

However, I don't have access to this article, and even if I did my 19th century German skills are lacking; does anyone know a reference in English I could check for details of the proof?

Best Answer

I don't know a reference, but here is a quick proof: Let the roots of the polynomial be $\alpha_1$, $\alpha_2$, ..., $\alpha_r$. Let

$$f_n(x) = \prod_{i=1}^r (x- \alpha_i^n).$$

All the coefficients of $f_n$ are rational, because they are symmetric functions of the $\alpha$'s, and are algebraic integers, because the $\alpha$'s are, so they are integers. Also, since $|\alpha_i| \leq 1$, the coefficient of $x^k$ in $f_n$ is at most $\binom{r}{k}$.

Combining the above observations, the coefficients of the $f_n$ are integers in a range which is bounded independent of $n$. So, in the infinite sequence $f_i$, only finitely many polynomials occur. In particular, there is some $k$ and $\ell$, with $\ell>0$, such that $f_{2^k} = f_{2^{k + \ell}}$. So raising to the $2^{\ell}$ power permutes the list $(\alpha_1^{2^{k}}, \ldots, \alpha_r^{2^k})$. For some positive $m$, raising to the $2^{\ell}$ power $m$ times will be the trivial permutation. In other words,

$$\alpha_i^{2^k} = \alpha_i^{2^{k+\ell m}}$$.

Every root of the above equation is $0$ or a root of unity.