The Sturm-Hurwitz theorem and its extensions (Q877743)

If a trigonometric polynomial \(f(t)=\sum f_j e^{2\pi ijt}\) of degree (at most) \(m\) has a spectral gap \((-n,n)\), that is \(f_j=0\) for \(-n<j<n\), then, by the Sturm theorem, it must have \(\geqslant 2n\) sign changes on the unit circle \(T=R/2\pi Z\). The author shows (Theorem 4) that unless \(f(t)=a\sin{mt}\) (i.e. \(n=m\)), \(f\) must have \(\geqslant 2n\) sign changes on the cyclic subgroup \(T_{n+m}:=\{\exp(i\theta+\frac{2\pi ij}{n+m})\}_{j=0}^{n+m-1}\). The author also extends the principle above to complex functions. Theorem 8. (i) Suppose \(a\) nontrivial complex continuous function \(f\) on the circle \(T\) has a spectral gap \((-n,n)\). Then \(\text{Var}(\text{arg}f,T)\geqslant 2\pi n\). (ii) If we additionally assume that \(f\) is trigonometric polynomial of degree \(m\geqslant n\) then either \(f(t)=a\sin{mt}\) for some \(a\in\mathbb{N}\) or \(\text{Var}(\text{arg}f,T_{n+m})\geqslant 2\pi n\).