English

Seeking a quadratic refinement of Sendov's conjecture

Complex Variables 2025-09-09 v2

Abstract

A conjecture of Sendov states that if a polynomial has all its roots in the unit disk and if β\beta is one of those roots, then within one unit of β\beta lies a root of the polynomial's derivative. If we define r(β)r(\beta) to be the greatest possible distance between β\beta and the closest root of the derivative, then Sendov's conjecture claims that r(β)1r(\beta) \le 1. In this paper, we conjecture that there is a constant c>0c>0 so that r(β)1cβ(1β)r(\beta) \le 1-c\beta(1-\beta) for all β[0,1]\beta \in [0,1]. We find such constants for complex polynomials of degree 22 and 33, for real polynomials of degree 44, for all polynomials whose roots lie on a line, for all polynomials with exactly one distinct critical point, and when β\beta is sufficiently close to 11. In addition, we show that experimental data suggests that c0.233c\approx0.233.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2506.12951,
  title  = {Seeking a quadratic refinement of Sendov's conjecture},
  author = {Michael J. Miller},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2506.12951},
  year   = {2025}
}

Comments

10 pages, 0 figures, 4 appendices, this article supersedes arXiv:math/0312130, v2: minor edits, no AI tools were used in the research for or writing of this paper