Rational Bishop determinants and explicit cyclicity criteria

Abstract

We study finite-fibre determinants for rational Bishop operators and their role in cyclicity for irrational parameters. The paper has two main parts. First, for the constant vector $f=1$, a resultant identity and a discrete Fourier factorization reveal a determinant parity mechanism for general modular orbit order: odd denominators give a nonnegative normalized determinant on the positive fundamental cell, while for even denominators the unique real alternating Fourier mode is the only factor capable of producing a sign-changing zero. We give an explicit example at $(r,q)=(9,16)$ and an analytic infinite family $(r,q)=(3,6n-2)$. Grivaux's zero-free determinant is identified as the consecutive-order subfamily $D_{1,q}$, so these zeros are caused specifically by nonconsecutive modular ordering. Second, we prove an explicit cyclicity criterion that does not require global nondegeneracy or monotonicity of the fibre determinant. A quantitative Remez estimate controls the small-determinant set; cutoff inverses are approximated by endpoint-corrected Fejer polynomials; and an explicit continuity modulus transfers the resulting rational approximants to irrational parameters. This produces a fully explicit continued-fraction gap function for $f=1$ and, more generally, for every polynomial $f$ with $f(0)\ne 0$. The argument also gives the exact degree and leading coefficient of the corresponding polynomial-vector fibre determinants.