Distinct positive zeros of the component polynomials in the general case

Let LL be a nonnegative integer, let c0,ots,cLc_0,ots,c_L be real numbers not all zero, and define

Σ(R)=l=0LclDl[xL+1DLl(R)],\Sigma(R)=\sum_{l=0}^L c_l D^l\left[x^{L+1}D^{L-l}(R)\right],

where DlD^l denotes the ll-th derivative. Set

R1(x):=A0(x):=x(1+x2)3/2,R2(x):=B0(x):=1(1+x2)3/2.R_1(x):=A_0(x):=\frac{x}{(1+x^2)^{3/2}},\qquad R_2(x):=B_0(x):=\frac{1}{(1+x^2)^{3/2}}.

Distinct-zeros conjecture. The positive zeros of Σ(R1)\Sigma(R_1) and Σ(R2)\Sigma(R_2) are distinct.

This is a polynomial formulation of the problem of distinguishing asymptotic directions of the zero sets of XX and YY in the general configuration of point charges. The source gives no proof or resolution.

Sources & referencesView supporting material

Primary source

Tamas Erdelyi, Joseph Rosenblatt and Rebecca Rosenblatt, “Asymptotic Directions for the Zero Sets of the Components of an Electrical Field from a Finite Number of Point Charges on the Plane Part II”, arXiv:2208.12857 (2022).

Additional references

2 papers in this index state this conjecture (2019–2022). The statement above is taken from the most recent of them; the others are arXiv:1912.09355.

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