In mathematics, a Fekete polynomial is a polynomial

Roots of the Fekete polynomial for p = 43

where is the Legendre symbol modulo some integer p > 1.

These polynomials were known in nineteenth-century studies of Dirichlet L-functions, and indeed to Dirichlet himself. They have acquired the name of Michael Fekete, who observed that the absence of real zeroes t of the Fekete polynomial with 0 < t < 1 implies an absence of the same kind for the L-function

This is of considerable potential interest in number theory, in connection with the hypothetical Siegel zero near s = 1. While numerical results for small cases had indicated that there were few such real zeroes, further analysis reveals that this may indeed be a 'small number' effect.

References

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  • Peter Borwein: Computational excursions in analysis and number theory. Springer, 2002, ISBN 0-387-95444-9, Chap.5.
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