A fascinating polynomial sequence arising from an electrostatics problem on the sphere

DOI10.1007/S10474-012-0195-6MaRDI QIDQ2454585zbMATH OpenOpenAlexFDO

Authors Johann S. Brauchart, P. D. Dragnev, E. B. Saff, Christiaan E. van de Woestijne

Publication date 13 June 2014

Published in Acta Mathematica Hungarica (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://arxiv.org/abs/1103.3086

zbMATH Keywords

sphereCoulomb potentialGolden ratioelectrostatics problemGonchar polynomialGonchar problemPlastic numbersigned equilibrium

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Polynomials and rational functions of one complex variable (30C10) Integral representations, integral operators, integral equations methods in higher dimensions (31B10)

Abstract: A positive unit point charge approaching from infinity a perfectly spherical isolated conductor carrying a total charge of +1 will eventually cause a negatively charged spherical cap to appear. The determination of the smallest distance $ho(d)$ ($d$ is the dimension of the unit sphere) from the point charge to the sphere where still all of the sphere is positively charged is known as Gonchar's problem. Using classical potential theory for the harmonic case, we show that $1+ho(d)$ is equal to the largest positive zero of a certain sequence of monic polynomials of degree $2d-1$ with integer coefficients which we call Gonchar polynomials. Rather surprisingly, $ho(2)$ is the Golden ratio and $ho(4)$ the lesser known Plastic number. But Gonchar polynomials have other interesting properties. We discuss their factorizations, investigate their zeros and present some challenging conjectures.

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Cites work

• scientific article; zbMATH DE number 2024859 (Why is no real title available?)
• scientific article; zbMATH DE number 3399629 (Why is no real title available?)
• Riesz extremal measures on the sphere for axis-supported external fields

Cited in

(7)

• An electrostatics problem on the sphere arising from a nearby point charge
• Minimum Riesz energy problem on the hyperdisk
• Weighted energy problem on the unit sphere
• Andrei Aleksandrovich Gonchar November 21, 1931 -- October 10, 2012
• On the zeros of Gonchar polynomials
• Distributing many points on spheres: minimal energy and designs
• Riesz external field problems on the hypersphere and optimal point separation

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