Let $q$ be a power of a prime $p$, let $k$ be a nontrivial divisor of $q-1$ and write $e=(q-1)/k$. We study upper bounds for cyclotomic numbers $(a,b)$ of order $e$ over the finite field $mathbb{F}_q$. A general result of our study is that $(a,b)leq 3$ for all $a,b in mathbb{Z}$ if $p> (sqrt{14})^{k/ord_k(p)}$. More conclusive results will be obtained through separate investigation of the five types of cyclotomic numbers: $(0,0), (0,a), (a,0), (a,a)$ and $(a,b)$, where $a eq b$ and $a,b in {1,dots,e-1}$. The main idea we use is to transform equations over $mathbb{F}_q$ into equations over the field of complex numbers on which we have more information. A major tool for the improvements we obtain over known results is new upper bounds on the norm of cyclotomic integers.
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