TITLE: Prove that $\sin(1 + k^3) \not \to 0$
QUESTION [7 upvotes]: How can we prove that for $k\in \mathbb{Z}\quad k\to \infty$
$$\sin(1 + k^3) \not \to 0$$
Lately I've encoutered it a couple of times in some OP posted here about series and by the discussion I had, also with expert users, it seems there is not a simple solution.
One possible strategy I had in mind is to show that for
$$\sin(1+k^3) \approx0$$
then
$$\sin(1+(k+1)^3)=\sin(1+k^3+3k^2+3k+1)=\sin(1+k^3)\cos(3k^2+3k+1)+\sin(3k^2+3k+1)\cos(1+k^3)\approx \pm \sin(3k^2+3k+1)$$
and show that $\sin(3k^2+3k+1)$ is "far" from zero.

REPLY [9 votes]: We will show that under certain conditions, sequence $\sin(P(n)),\,n=1, 2, ...$ where $P(n)$ is a "good enough" polynomial, is dense on the interval $[-1, 1]$.
We will use that, for any polynomial $P$,
$$P(x) = a_mx^m+a_{m-1}x^{m-1}+...+a_0 $$
If at least one of the coefficients $a_j$, $j>0$ is irrational, then $P(n)$ is uniformly distributed modulo $1$. In fact, we will only need the fact that the sequence $\{P(n)\}$ is dense in $[0, 1)$.
Let's choose any number from $[-1, 1]$, and let's write it in the form $\sin(a)$.
$$|\sin(a)-\sin(P(n))|=2|\sin(\frac{a-P(n)}{2})\cos(\frac{a+P(n)}{2})| \leq2|\sin(\frac{a-P(n)}{2})| \\= 2|\sin(\frac{a-P(n)}{2}\,\text{mod}\,2\pi)| $$
$$\frac{a-P(n)}{2}\,\text{mod}\,2\pi = 2\pi(\frac{a-P(n)}{4\pi}\,\text{mod}\,1) $$
Recall what we said before, if at least one of $\frac{a_j}{\pi}$ is irrational, for $m\geq j\geq 1$, then $\frac{a-P(n)}{4\pi}\,\text{mod}\,1$ is dense in $[0, 1)$. Then for any $\varepsilon>0$ we can choose $n$, so that: 
$$\frac{a-P(n)}{4\pi}\,\text{mod}\,1 < \frac{\varepsilon}{4\pi}$$
Then:
$$2|\sin(\frac{a-P(n)}{2}\,\text{mod}\,2\pi)|<\varepsilon $$
From which follows that:
$$|\sin(a)-\sin(P(n))|<\varepsilon $$
So the sequence is dense on the interval $[-1, 1]$.
You can see that this is a much stronger result. Since $\frac{1}{\pi}$ is irrational, $\sin(1+k^3)$ is dense in $[-1, 1]$, hence doesn't converge to any real number.
I came up with this proof while reading the book I am learning from right now, it's called "Uniform Distribution of Sequences" by L. Kuipers and H. Niederreiter. You can find the proof that sequences $P(n)$ of that form are uniformly distributed there. It's Theorem 3.2 on page 27.