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Let $z_j$ ($j=1,\dots, k$) be $k$ points on the complex plane none of which lies on the real line. Is it always true that the function $ F(x)=\sum_{j=1}^k \frac{1}{|x-z_j|^2} $ has at most $k$ local maxima on the real line?

2 Answers 2

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$F(x)=c$ has for any value of $c>0$ at most $2k$ solutions, which in a weak way supports the conjecture that the statement is always true.

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    @EwanDelanoy: $F(x)=c$ is the quotient of two polynomials of degree $2k$. So my original $2k-1$ was one off. I corrected the mistake.2012-11-06
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If $z_{j}=a_{j}+i\cdot b_{j}$ then $\left | x-z_{j} \right |^{2}=(x-a_{j})^{2}+b_{j}^{2}$ and $F(x)=\sum_{j=1}^{k}\frac{1}{(x-a_{j})^{2}+b_{j}^{2}}$ Function $F(x)$ is continuous and differentiable. {F}'(x)=\sum_{j=1}^{k}\frac{-2(x-a_{j})}{[(x-a_{j})^{2}+b_{j}^{2}]^{2}}=-2\frac{P(x)}{\prod_{l=1}^{k} [(x-a_{l})^{2}+b_{l}^{2}]^{2}} Where $P(x)=\sum_{j=1}^{k}(x-a_{j})\prod_{l=1, l\neq j}^{k}[(x-a_{l})^{2}+b_{l}^{2}]^{2}$ and $grad P(x)=4k-3$ which means there could be maximum $4k-3$ zeros of $P(x)$ or $F(x)$ has $4k-3$ extrema.

On top of this, if we assume the following ordering $a_{1} \leqslant a_{2} \leqslant ... \leqslant a_{k}$ $x-a_{1} \geqslant x-a_{2} \geqslant ... \geqslant x-a_{k}$ and $x = a_{1}$ $0 \geqslant a_{1}-a_{2} \geqslant ... \geqslant a_{1}-a_{k}$ if $x = a_{k}$ $a_{k}-a_{1} \geqslant a_{k}-a_{2} \geqslant ... \geqslant a_{k}-a_{k-1} \geqslant 0$ or basically {F}'(a_{1}) \geqslant 0 and {F}'(a_{k}) \leqslant 0 (*)

Further, {F}'(x) is positive on $(-\infty ,a_{1}]$, looking at $P(x)$ and considering $x \leqslant a_{1} \leqslant a_{2} \leqslant ... \leqslant a_{k}$, thus ${F}(x)$ is ascending on this interval. {F}'(x) is negative on $[a_{k},\infty )$, thus ${F}(x)$ is descending on this interval.

As a result, all the "fun" happens inside $(a_{1},a_{k})$ and according to (*) there is at least one zero for {F}'(x) on this interval (or at least one extrema for $F(x)$).

The remaining part is to sort out $grad P(x)=4k-3$. Assuming the "oscillating" nature (max, min, max, min ...) within $(a_{1},a_{k})$ for $F(x)$ and ascending/descending nature outside that interval, the number of maxima should be greater than the number of minima by 1. Or $n+1$ - maxima, $n$ - minima and $2n + 1 = 4k - 3$ or $2k - 1$ maxima so far ...

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    For a specific case of $k=2$ where we can do things without Rolles: $F(x)=1/((x-1)^2+1)+1/((x+1)^2+1)$. Here the numerator is fifth degree and has a factor of $x$, with the other zeros of the numerator being the two real roots $+-\sqrt{-2+2\sqrt{2}}$ and the pair of complex roots $+-\sqrt{-2-2\sqrt{2}}$, if I copied the maple output right. So we see that two of the roots of rtybase's numerator term are complex, in this case.2012-10-21