Dragging the roots of a polynomial to the unit circle

MaRDI QIDQ6323404zbMATH OpenFDO

Authors Arnaldo Mandel, Sinai Robins

Publication date 8 August 2019

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Polynomials in number theory (11C08) Trigonometric and exponential sums (general theory) (11L03) Zeros of polynomials, rational functions, and other analytic functions of one complex variable (e.g., zeros of functions with bounded Dirichlet integral) (30C15) Semialgebraic sets and related spaces (14P10) Real polynomials: location of zeros (26C10) Polytopes and polyhedra (52B99) Polynomials in real and complex fields: location of zeros (algebraic theorems) (12D10)

Abstract: Several conditions are known for a self-inversive polynomial that ascertain the location of its roots, and we present a framework for comparison of those conditions. We associate a parametric family of polynomials $p_{a}lpha$ to each such polynomial $p$, and define $mathscrcn(p)$, $mathscril(p)$ to be the sharp threshold values of $alpha$ that guarantee that, for all larger values of the parameter, $p_{a}lpha$ has, respectively, all roots in the unit circle and all roots interlacing the roots of unity of the same degree. Interlacing implies circle rootedness, hence $mathscril(p)geqmathscrcn(p)$, and this inequality is often used for showing circle rootedness. Both $mathscrcn(p)$ and $mathscril(p)$ turn out to be semi-algebraic functions of the coefficients of $p$, and some useful bounds are also presented, entailing several known results about roots in the circle. The study of $mathscril(p)$ leads to a rich classification of real self-inversive polynomials of each degree, organizing them into a complete polyhedral fan. We have a close look at the class of polynomials for which $mathscril(p)=mathscrcn(p)$, whereas in general the quotient $fracmathscril(p)mathscrcn(p)$ is shown to be unbounded as the degree grows. Several examples and open questions are presented.

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