Gauss periods are minimal polynomials for totally real cyclic fields of prime degree

We report extensive computational evidence that Gauss period equations are minimal discriminant polynomials for primitive elements representing Abelian (cyclic) polynomials of prime degrees $p$. By computing 200 period equations up to $p=97$, we significantly extend tables in the compendious number fields database of Klüners and Malle. Up to $p=7$, period equations reproduce known results proved to have minimum discriminant. For $11\le p\le 23$, period equations coincide with 53 known but unproved cases of minimum discriminant in the database, and fill a gap of 19 missing cases. For $29\le p\le 97$, we report 128 not previously known cases, 16 of them conjectured to be minimum discriminant polynomials of Galois group $pT1$. The significant advantage of period equations is that they all may be obtained analytically using a procedure that works for fields of arbitrary degrees, and which are extremely hard to detect by systematic numerical search.