On stable and fixed polynomials
Let \(K\) be a field and \(\nu\) be a rank one valuation on \(K[x]\). For each \(n \in \mathbb{N}\), denote by \(\Psi_n\) the set of key polynomials for \(\nu\) of degree \(n\). Fix an \(f \in K[x]\) and \(Q \in \Psi_n\). The \(Q\)-expansion of \(f\) is the expression \(f = f_0 + f_1Q+ \cdots + f_rQ^r = l(Q)\), where \(f_0, \dots, f_r \in K[x]\) are of degree less than \(n\) and \(l(X) \in K[x][X]\). The polynomial \(f\) is \(\Psi_n\)-stable if there exists \(Q \in \Psi_n\) such that \(\nu(f) = \min\{\nu(f_iQ^i) \}\). The polynomial \(f\) is \((\Psi_n,Q)\)-fixed if there exists \(Q' \in \Psi_n\) such that \(\nu(Q) < \nu(Q')\) and \(\nu(f) = \nu(l(Q'-Q))\). If the degree of \(l(X)\) is sufficiently small, then \(f\) is \(\Psi_n\)-stable if and only if \(f\) is \((\Psi_n,Q)\)-fixed. Together with a given limit key polynomial, this is used to algorithmically construct a limit key polynomial of the form \(a_0 + a_1Q^p + a_2Q^{p^2} + \cdots + a_mQ^{p^m}\), where \(a_0, \dots, a_m \in K[x]\) are of degree less than \(n\) and \(p\) is the characteristic of the residue field of \(\nu\).
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