A bound for the number of critical values at infinity (Q1805915)

Consider a polynomial \(f\) in two variables with complex coefficients, of degree \(d\). Let \((O_1, \ldots, O_N)\) be the base points of the pencil given by \(C_\lambda:\alpha F + \beta X_0^d\), where \(F\) is the homogenization of \(f\) and \(\lambda =\beta / \alpha\). Furthermore consider the critical values of \(f\) at infinity, that is, those \(\lambda \) for which the family \((C_\lambda, O_i)\) is not topologically trivial for some \(i\). At one of the base points, say \(O\), one defines a weighted cluster \(( K, \nu)\) of base points. The authors give a bound for the number of critical values of \(f\) in terms of the tree structure of \(K\), the virtual multiplicities \(\nu_p\), the proximity relations between points of \(K\), and the number of points of \(K\) which lie on the line at infinity.