English

A property of discriminants

Classical Analysis and ODEs 2019-12-11 v1

Abstract

For the family P:=xn+a1xn1++anP:=x^n+a_1x^{n-1}+\cdots +a_n of complex polynomials in the variable xx we study its {\em discriminant} R:=R:=Res(P,P,x)(P,P',x), RC[a]R\in \mathbb{C}[a], a=(a1,,an)a=(a_1,\ldots ,a_n). When RR is regarded as a polynomial in aka_k, one can consider its discriminant D~k:=\tilde{D}_k:=Res(R,R/ak,ak)(R,\partial R/\partial a_k,a_k). We show that D~k=ck(an)d(n,k)Mk2Tk3\tilde{D}_k=c_k(a_n)^{d(n,k)}M_k^2T_k^3, where ckQc_k\in \mathbb{Q}^*, d(n,k):=min(1,nk)+max(0,nk2)d(n,k):=\min (1,n-k)+\max (0,n-k-2), the polynomials Mk,TkC[ak]M_k,T_k\in \mathbb{C}[a^k] have integer coefficients, ak=(a1,,ak1,ak+1,,an)a^k=(a_1,\ldots ,a_{k-1},a_{k+1},\ldots ,a_n), the sets {Mk=0}\{ M_k=0\} and {Tk=0}\{ T_k=0\} are the projections in the space of the variables aka^k of the closures of the strata of the variety {R=0}\{ R=0\} on which PP has respectively two double roots or a triple root. Set Pk:=PxP/(nk)P_k:=P-xP'/(n-k) for 1kn11\leq k\leq n-1 and Pn:=PP_n:=P'. One has Tk=T_k={\rm Res}(Pk,Pk,x)(P_k,P_k',x) for kn1k\neq n-1 and Tn1=T_{n-1}={\rm Res}(Pn1,Pn1,x)/an(P_{n-1},P_{n-1}',x)/a_n.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1701.02912,
  title  = {A property of discriminants},
  author = {Vladimir Petrov Kostov},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1701.02912},
  year   = {2019}
}