English

On universal sign patterns

Classical Analysis and ODEs 2024-05-30 v1

Abstract

We consider polynomials Q:=j=0dajxjQ:=\sum _{j=0}^da_jx^j, ajRa_j\in \mathbb{R}^*, with all roots real. When the {\em sign pattern} σ(Q):=(sgn(ad),sgn(ad1)\sigma (Q):=({\rm sgn}(a_d),{\rm sgn}(a_{d-1}), \ldots, sgn(a0)){\rm sgn}(a_0)) has c~\tilde{c} sign changes, the polynomial QQ has c~\tilde{c} positive and dc~d-\tilde{c} negative roots. We suppose the moduli of these roots distinct. The {\em order} of these moduli is defined when in their string as points of the positive half-axis one marks the places of the moduli of negative roots. A sign pattern σ0\sigma^0 is {\em universal} when for any possible order of the moduli there exists a polynomial QQ with σ(Q)=σ0\sigma (Q)=\sigma^0 and with this order of the moduli of its roots. We show that when the polynomial Pm,n:=(x1)m(x+1)nP_{m,n}:=(x-1)^m(x+1)^n has no vanishing coefficients, the sign pattern σ(Pm,n)\sigma (P_{m,n}) is universal. We also study the question when Pm,nP_{m,n} can have vanishing coefficients.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2405.18895,
  title  = {On universal sign patterns},
  author = {Vladimir Petrov Kostov},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2405.18895},
  year   = {2024}
}
R2 v1 2026-06-28T16:45:18.300Z