On the zeros of asymptotically extremal polynomial sequences in the plane (Q2255303)

Let \(E\subset \mathbb{C}\) be a compact set with positive logarithmic capacity \(\mathrm{cap}(E)\). It is known that the sequence of normalized counting measures of the zeros of a sequence of Fekete polynomials \((P_{n})\) for \(E\) is weak* convergent to the equilibrium measure of \(E\). This needs not be the case for a sequence of monic polynomials \((P_{n})\) which is merely asymptotically extremal in the sense that \(\lim \sup_{n\rightarrow \infty}\left\| P_{n}\right\| _{E}^{1/n}\leq \mathrm{cap}(E)\). However, the present paper establishes the above weak* convergence property for this wider class of sequences \((P_{n})\) when \(E\) satisfies certain geometric conditions. For example, this holds when the boundary of each component of \(F^{\circ }\) has an inward pointing corner, where \(F\) denotes the polynomially convex hull of \(E\). The proof, which is elegant, builds on an argument of \textit{S. J. Gardiner} and \textit{C. Pommerenke} [Constr. Approx. 18, No. 3, 417--426 (2002; Zbl 1025.30024)] concerning the balayage of measures. The authors provide an extensive account of applications and connections with other literature.