On critical values of polynomials with real critical points (Q5962344)

Let \(f\) be a polynomial of degree \(n\geq 2\) normalized by \(f(0)=0\) and \(f^\prime(0)=1\). According to the well-known conjecture of Smale, there exists a critical point \(\zeta\) of \(f\) such that \(|f(\zeta)/\zeta|<1\). Smale proved such an inequality with the constant 4 instead of 1. At present, no constant \(<4\) has been obtained that would be valid for all polynomials. In this paper the authors formulate a more general conjecture than that of Smale and show that if all the critical points of a polynomial \(f\) with \(f(0)=0\) and \(f^\prime(0)=1\) lie in the union of two rays from zero to infinity, then there is a critical point \(\zeta\) of \(f\) such that \(|f(\zeta)/\zeta|<2/3\), unless \(f\) is of the form \(f(z)=z+cz^3\) for some nonzero complex constant \(c\). Thus, in particular, they verify Smale's conjecture in case all the zeros of \(f^\prime\) are real.