On a class of nonlinear differential operators acting on polynomials (Q1206923)

Let \(P\) be a polynomial of degree \(n\). If \(m\geq 1\) is an integer and \(\varepsilon\) is a primitive \(2m\)th root of unity, define the operators \(L_ k^{(m)}(P)=L_ k^{(m)}(P;x)\) by \(\prod_{j=0}^{m-1} P(x- \varepsilon^{2j+1}y)= \sum_{k=0}^ n L_ k^{(m)}(P;x)y^{mk}\). It can be verified that \(L_ k^{(1)}(P;x)= P^{(k)}(x)/k!\), and that \(L_ 1^{(2)}(P)=- WP(x) = (P'(x))^ 2-P(x)P''(x)\), where \(W\) denotes the Wronskian operator studied by the authors in earlier papers [e.g. J. Math. Anal. Appl. 162, No. 2, 430-451 (1991; Zbl 0748.30007)]. Although nonlinear, the operators \(L_ k^{(m)}\) have some pleasant properties, e.g. (Proposition 2.1): \(L_ k^{(m)}(PQ)=\sum_{j=0}^ k L_ j^{(m)}(P) L_{k-j}^{(m)}(Q)\). The authors' goal in this paper is to study the effect of \(L_ k^{(m)}\) on the zeros of \(P\). For example, they show (Proposition 3.1) that if all the zeros of \(P\) lie in the interval \([-1,1]\), then for \(m\geq 2\) the zeros of \(L_ k^{(m)}(P;x)\) lie in the union of the two closed disks with radii \(1/\sin(\pi/m)\) centered at \(\pm i\cot(\pi/m)\). In section 4 they show that this result is sharp. If all zeros of \(P\) lie in the closed unit disk then they show (Proposition 3.2) that for \(m\geq 2\) all zeros of \(L_ k^{(m)}(P)\) lie in the disk of radius \(1/\sin(\pi/2m)\) centered at the origin. The proofs of these results rely heavily on an explicit representation of \(L_ k^{(m)}(P)\) in terms of the zeros of \(P\) (Proposition 2.3). In section 5, they note that if all zeros of \(P\) are real and \(m\) is even then \(L_ k^{(m)}(P)\) can have no real zeros. In this case they obtain lower bounds on the distance of the zeros of \(L_ k^{(m)}(P)\) from the real axis which generalize their earlier result for the Wronskian operator. In the final section 6, they give a determinantal representation of the operators \(L_ 1^{(m)}\).