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Source. Theorem, printed p. 344 (physical PDF p. 2); proof in sections 2--4, pp. 345--357. Read on the page image; the text layer is machine OCR.

Statement

One effectively computable absolute constant q>12q>\tfrac12 serves every nn: whenever z1,…,znz_1,\dots,z_n are complex numbers with z1=1z_1=1,

max⁡1≤j≤n∣Sj∣>q,Sj=z1j+⋯+znj.\max_{1\le j\le n}|S_j|>q,\qquad S_j=z_1^j+\cdots+z_n^j.

Hence Rn>qR_n>q for every nn, where RnR_n is the minimum of max⁡1≤j≤n∣Sj∣\max_{1\le j\le n}|S_j| over nn-tuples with max⁡t∣zt∣=1\max_t|z_t|=1 (p. 343; the normalization z1=1z_1=1 is equivalent).

The paper does not compute a concrete value of qq; it says this "would be possible following the steps of our proof" and that determining the best constant obtainable by its ideas seems rather complicated (p. 344).

Proof, as a pointer

The proof (pp. 344--357) assumes ∣Sj∣≤q|S_j|\le q for 1≤j≤n1\le j\le n with 1/2<q<q0<1/21/2<q<q_0<1/\sqrt2 fixed, works with the Newton--Girard relations (3), (4) between the SjS_j and the coefficients btb_t of ∏t=2n(Z−zt)\prod_{t=2}^n(Z-z_t), adds formulas (14) obtained by summing (3), and shows that the near-equality forced in the 1994 argument is impossible: for α<π/4\alpha<\pi/4 close enough to π/4\pi/4 and then q>1/2q>1/2 close enough to 1/21/2, inequality (47) on p. 357 is contradictory. The proof was not checked here.

Bears on. #519; the Theorem proves the problem's existence statement with an effectively computable absolute constant q>1/2q>1/2, whose value the paper does not compute.