Zeros of {-1,0,1}-power series and connectedness loci for self-affine sets

Abstract

We consider the set W of double zeros in (0,1) for power series with coefficients in {-1,0,1}. We prove that W is disconnected, and estimate the minimum of W with high accuracy. We also show that [2^(-1/2)-e,1) is contained in W for some small, but explicit e>0 (this was only known for e=0). These results have applications in the study of infinite Bernoulli convolutions and connectedness properties of self-affine fractals.