Root sets of polynomials and power series with finite choices of coefficients

Abstract

Given $H\subseteq \mathbb{C}$ two natural objects to study are the set of zeros of polynomials with coefficients in $H$, $$\{z\in \mathbb{C}: \exists k>0,\, \exists (a_n)\in H^{k+1}, \sum_{n=0}^{k}a_{n}z^n=0\},$$ and the set of zeros of power series with coefficients in $H$, $$\{z\in\mathbb{C}: \exists (a_n)\in H^{\mathbb{N}}, \sum_{n=0}^{\infty} a_nz^n=0\}.$$ In this paper we consider the case where each element of $H$ has modulus $1$. The main result of this paper states that for any $r\in(1/2,1),$ if $H$ is $2\cos^{-1}(\frac{5-4|r|^2}{4})$-dense in $S^1,$ then the set of zeros of polynomials with coefficients in $H$ is dense in $\{z\in \mathbb{C}: |z|\in [r,r^{-1}]\},$ and the set of zeros of power series with coefficients in $H$ contains the annulus $\{z\in \mathbb{C}: |z|\in[r,1)\}$. These two statements demonstrate quantitatively how the set of polynomial zeros/power series zeros fill out the natural annulus containing them as $H$ becomes progessively more dense.