English

Intersections of Convex Hulls of Polynomial Shifts and Critical Points

Complex Variables 2026-02-27 v2

Abstract

Let p(z)p(z) be a complex polynomial of degree n2n\ge 2. For each cCc\in\mathbb{C}, let KcK_c denote the convex hull of the zeros of p(z)+cp(z)+c, and let KK' denote the convex hull of the zeros of p(z)p'(z). We prove that cCKc=K,\bigcap_{c\in\mathbb{C}} K_c = K', by combining a strict separating hyperplane argument with a half-plane non-surjectivity theorem for polynomials without critical points (proved via analytic continuation, the monodromy theorem and Liouville's Theorem). We also characterize when K0=KK_0=K' in terms of the multiplicities of the zeros of p(z)p(z) that form the vertices of K0K_0. As an application, we obtain a partial result toward the Schmeisser's conjecture: if all zeros of pp lie in the closed unit disk, then for every ζK\zeta\in K' the disk zζ1ζ2|z-\zeta|\le \sqrt{1-|\zeta|^2} contains a critical point of p(z)p(z). Finally, we refine a recent barycentric bound in \cite{Zha26+} by showing that there is always a critical point within distance n2n11G2\sqrt{\frac{n-2}{n-1}}\sqrt{1-|G|^2} of the centroid GG of the zeros.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2601.16102,
  title  = {Intersections of Convex Hulls of Polynomial Shifts and Critical Points},
  author = {Teng Zhang},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2601.16102},
  year   = {2026}
}

Comments

Theorems 1.2 and 2.5 in this paper are incorrect, and the proofs also contain gaps. We therefore withdraw the manuscript