Pisot unit generators in number fields

Abstract

Pisot numbers are real algebraic integers bigger than 1, whose other conjugates have all modulus smaller than 1. In this paper we deal with the algorithmic problem of finding the smallest Pisot unit generating a given number field. We first solve this problem in all real fields, then we consider the analogous problem involving the so called complex Pisot numbers and we solve it in all number fields that admit such a generator, in particular all fields without CM, but not only those.