Number of Real Critical Points of Cyclotomic Polynomials

Abstract

We study the number of real critical points of a cyclotomic polynomial $\Phi_{n}(x)$, that is, the real roots of $\Phi_{n}^{\prime}(x)$. As usual, one can, without losing generality, restrict $n$ to be the product of distinct odd primes, say $p_{1}<\cdots<p_{k}$. We show that if the primes are "sufficiently separated" then there are exactly $2^{k}-1$ real roots of $\Phi_{n}^{\prime}(x)$ and each of them is simple.