Terminal stability conjecture for derivative discriminants

For nrn\ge r, let Dnr(n)=disc(P(nr))\mathcal D_{n-r}^{(n)}=\operatorname{disc}(P^{(n-r)}), where PP is a monic polynomial of degree nn. For fixed rr, let G1,,GNG_1,\ldots,G_N be square multigraphs and let Gν~\widetilde{G_\nu} denote their symmetrized graph monomials.

Terminal stability conjecture. For each fixed r2r\ge2 there exists a finite list of square multigraphs G1,,GNG_1,\ldots,G_N, depending only on rr and not on nn, such that for all nrn\ge r

Dnr(n)=ν=1Ncν(n)Gν~,cν(n)0,\mathcal D_{n-r}^{(n)}=\sum_{\nu=1}^N c_\nu(n)\,\widetilde{G_\nu},\qquad c_\nu(n)\ge0,

where the coefficients cν(n)c_\nu(n) are rational functions, or equivalently polynomials after a common positive normalization, in nn.

This is a conjectural strengthening of the square-graph cone problem, asserting uniform finite graph support for each fixed terminal order. The cases r=2r=2 and r=3r=3 are settled in the note; r=4r=4 is identified as the next concrete target, and r=5r=5 is reduced to an explicit quintic polynomial. The general assertion remains open.

Sources & referencesView supporting material

Primary source

Boris Shapiro, “Discriminants of derivatives and symmetric difference polynomials”, arXiv:2605.25743 (2026).

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