Smooth roots of hyperbolic polynomials with definable coefficients (Q1758904)

When the coefficients of a hyperbolic polynomial (i.e., a univariate polynomial with only real roots) depend analytically on a real parameter, its roots also depend analytically on this parameter. However, when the coefficient dependence is \(C^{\infty}\), then in general the root dependence is not \(C^{\infty}\), and oscillating counterexamples can be constructed so that a derivate switches sign infinitely often near some point where the multiplicity of the roots changes. The author shows that this cannot happen if the coefficients have o-minimal regularity, a generalization of semi-algebraic regularity. If the coefficients are definable in an o-minimal structure, then \(C^{\infty}\) regularity of the coefficients implies \(C^{\infty}\) regularity of the roots.