Three coefficients of a polynomial can determine its \(\phi\)-instability (Q2496655)

This is the continuation of an elegant research work initiated by the same authors in the same journal five years ago, and which consisted in deriving simple (actually as simple as possible) sufficient algebraic conditions for instability of a polynomial, or equivalently, necessary conditions for stability [\textit{A. Borobia} and \textit{S. Dormido}, Linear Algebra Appl. 338, 67--76 (2001; Zbl 1018.12003)]. Such conditions have been the subject of many investigations for more than two centuries because of their key engineering relevance. Originally, the authors were interested in Hurwitz stability, that is, whether all the roots of a complex-valued polynomial with positive real coefficients belong to the open left half-plane. In the paper under review, the authors generalize their work to location of the polynomial roots in a sector included in the open left half-plane. They use the terminology \(\phi\)-stability, where \(\phi>0\) is the angle of the sector, and \(\phi=\pi/2\) corresponds to Hurwitz stability. This kind of stability region has clear physical meaning for linear control systems, where \(\phi\) is related with the damping of oscillating modes corresponding to complex conjugate roots. Along the same lines as for their original work, the authors first show that the knowledge of two coefficients of a polynomial is not sufficient to conclude about \(\phi\)-stability. Then they describe a simple algebraic condition involving three coefficients, which, when satisfied, ensures \(\phi\)-instability. Finally they extend their results to a sector shifted to the left of the complex plane, which has a systems control interpretation in terms of trajectory exponential decay rate.