Counting polynomials over finite fields with given root multiplicities (Q2637198)

Any monic polynomial \(f\in\mathbb F_q[x]\) factors as \((x-\alpha_1)^{e_1}\cdots (x-\alpha_t)^{e_t}\) over \(\overline{\mathbb F}_q\), where the \(\alpha_i\in\overline{\mathbb F}_q\) are distinct. To \(f\), one can associate a partition \(P(f)\), namely \(\mathrm{deg}\,f=e_0+\cdots+e_t\). Now, for any partition \(\lambda\), set \[ w_\lambda:=\#\{\mathrm{monic } f\in\mathbb F _q[x] | P(f)=\lambda\}. \] For simplicity, if \(\lambda\) is the partition \(m=m_{1}+\cdots+m_{n}\), we write \(w_\lambda=w_{m_{1}\cdots m_{n}}\). Further, if \(m_{1}=m_{2}=\dots=m_n=1\), we set \(w_\lambda=w_{1^{n}}\), and so forth. Let \(|\lambda|\) be the length of \(\lambda\), i.e., \(|\lambda|=n\). The following example reflects a well-known fact: \(w_{1^n}=q^n-q^{n-1}\), the number of square-free monic polynomials of degree \(n\geq 2\) over \(\mathbb F _q\). For two partitions \(\lambda, \lambda'\), the authors define the refinement ordering \(\lambda'\geq \lambda\) if \(\lambda\) can be partitioned into subsets that add to the elements of \(\lambda'\). For example, \(357\geq 11247\). Set \[ \overline{w}_\lambda =\sum_{\lambda'\geq \lambda} w_{\lambda'}, \] so for example \(\overline{w}_{1^n}=q^n\) since \(\{\lambda'\geq 1^n\}\) is the set of all partitions of \(n\). Other examples are: \(\overline{w}_{1^n2}=\overline{w}_{1^{n+2}}-w_{1^{n+2}}=q^{n+1}\) and \(\overline{w}_{1^nd}\) is the number of polynomials with at least one root with multiplicity at least \(d\). It is shown in this paper that \(\overline{w}_{1^nd}=q^{n+1}\). Similarly, \(\overline{w}_{1^n22}\) counts polynomials with either at least two roots with multiplicity at least \(2\) or at least one root with multiplicity at least \(4\), and \(\overline{w}_{1^n22}=q^{n+2}\). As another example \(\overline{w}_{12259}=q^{5}\). These examples lead to the natural conjecture ``\(\overline{w}_\lambda= q^{|\lambda|}\)'' for all \(\lambda\). However, this fails since \(w_{11223}=q^5+q^2-q\). The authors then set out to study conditions under which the equality \(\overline{w}_\lambda= q^{|\lambda|}\) does hold. The following theorem is obtained. Theorem. Let \(m\geq -1\) and \(k\geq 0\) be integers. For each \(0\leq i\leq m\), let \(b_i,e_i\) be integers. Further, suppose that for each \(1\leq i\leq m\) we have \(b_{i}\geq \sum_{j<i}e_{j}b_j\). Then \[ \overline{w}_{1^k{b_0}^{e_0}\cdots{b_m}^{e_m}} = q^{k+\sum_i e_i}. \] This theorem proves a large number of cases of when the equality \(\overline{w}_\lambda= q^{|\lambda|}\) holds, including those mentioned above. Note that it is natural to consider the \(\overline{w}_{1^k\lambda}\) together for varying \(k\), because they all count polynomials with multiple roots ``at least as bad'' as \(\lambda\), as in the examples with \(\lambda=d\) and \(\lambda=22\) given above. The authors also obtain a ``motivic analog'' of the above theorem. More precisely, let \(k\) be a field and consider the Grothendieck ring of \(k\)-varieties \(R=K_0(\mathrm{var}_{k})\), which is generated (as an abelian group) by the isomorphism classes \([X]\) of geometrically reduced and separated \(k\)-schemes of finite type \(X\). For a partition \(\lambda=a_1^{e_1}\cdots a_m^{e_m}\) with \(a_i\) distinct, let \(w_\lambda( X)\) to be the open subscheme of \(\prod_i \mathrm{Sym}^{e_i}X\) in which all the points are distinct, i.e., the complement of the ``big diagonal'' (taking \(k=\mathbb F_q\) and applying the \(\mathbb F_q\)-point counting functor to \(w_{\lambda}(\mathbb A^1)\) recovers the integer \(w_\lambda\) defined above). Now set \(\overline{w}_\lambda(X) = \sum_{\lambda'\geq \lambda }[w_{\lambda'}(X)]\). Let \(Z_X(t) :=\sum_{n\geq 0} [\mathrm{Sym}^n X]t^n\in R[[t]]\) be Kapranov's motivic zeta function. If \(k =\mathbb F_q\), then the \(\mathbb F_q\)-point counting functor sends \(Z_X(t)\) to the Weil zeta function \(\zeta_X(s)\), where \(t=q^{-s}\). For a partition \(\lambda\), the authors define \( \overline{K}_{X,1^\bullet \lambda}(t):=\sum_{j} \overline{w}_{1^j \lambda} (X) t^j\in R[[t]]. \) The ``motivic analog'' of the theorem stated above is the determination of \(\overline{K}_{X,1^\bullet \lambda}(t)\) in terms of \(Z_X(t)\) for \(\lambda=b_0^{e_0}\cdots b_m^{e_m}\) satisfying the hypotheses of the theorem.