Polynomials whose coefficients coincide with their zeros (Q1647752)

The authors study monic univariate polynomials whose coefficients coincide with their roots in the complex field, shortly, Ulam polynomials. The bulk of the paper is devoted to counting Ulam polynomials of specified degree \(N\) by means of enumerative geometry. According to Theorem 3.5, the variety associated to a certain ideal has precisely \(N!-(N-1)!\) points, provided its homogenization is a radical ideal. After determining the number of Ulam polynomials of each degree \(N\leq 5\), it is shown that for \(N\geq 4\) there exist less than \(N!\) Ulam polynomials of degree \(N\). Moreover, for \(N\geq 2\) there exists an Ulam polynomial of degree \(N\) or \(N-1\) with all coefficients different from zero. In a different vein, it is shown that the only Ulam polynomial eigenfunctions of hypergeometric type differential operators are the trivial ones \(\{x^N\}_{N\geq 0}\). The differential operator and the corresponding eigenvalues are explicitly given. Finally, a family of solvable \(N\)-body problems such that their stable equilibria are the zeros of certain Ulam polynomials is also pointed out.