The zeros of random polynomials cluster uniformly near the unit circle

In this paper, we prove optimal local universality for roots of random polynomials with arbitrary coeffcients of polynomial growth. As an application, we derive, for the first time, sharp estimates for the number of real roots of these polynomials, even when the coeffcients are not explicit. Our results also hold for series; in particular, we prove local universality for random hyperbolic series.

Let $f = \sum_{k=0}^n \varepsilon_k z^k$ be a random polynomial, where $\varepsilon_0,\ldots ,\varepsilon_n$ are iid standard Gaussian random variables, and let $\zeta_1,\ldots,\zeta_n$ denote the roots of $f$. We show that the point process determined by the magnitude of the roots $\{ 1-|\zeta_1|,\ldots, 1-|\zeta_n| \}$ tends to a Poisson point process at the scale $n^{-2}$ as $n\rightarrow \infty$. One consequence of this result is that it determines the magnitude of the cl...

We identify the scaling region of a width O(n^{-1}) in the vicinity of the accumulation points $t=\pm 1$ of the real roots of a random Kac-like polynomial of large degree n. We argue that the density of the real roots in this region tends to a universal form shared by all polynomials with independent, identically distributed coefficients c_i, as long as the second moment \sigma=E(c_i^2) is finite. In particular, we reveal a gradual (in contrast to the previously reported abru...

Consider a random polynomial $G_n(z)=\xi_nz^n+...+\xi_1z+\xi_0$ with i.i.d. complex-valued coefficients. Suppose that the distribution of $\log(1+\log(1+|\xi_0|))$ has a slowly varying tail. Then the distribution of the complex roots of $G_n$ concentrates in probability, as $n\to\infty$, to two centered circles and is uniform in the argument as $n\to\infty$. The radii of the circles are $|\xi_0/\xi_\tau|^{1/\tau}$ and $|\xi_\tau/\xi_n|^{1/(n-\tau)}$, where $\xi_\tau$ denotes ...

For random polynomials with i.i.d. (independent and identically distribu-ted) zeros following any common probability distribution $\mu$ with support contained in the unit circle, the empirical measures of the zeros of their first and higher order derivatives will be proved to converge weakly to $\mu$ a.s. (almost sure(ly)). This, in particular, completes a recent work of Subramanian on the first order derivative case where $\mu$ was assumed to be non-uniform. The same a.s. we...

We show that almost all the zeros of any finite linear combination of independent characteristic polynomials of random unitary matrices lie on the unit circle. This result is the random matrix analogue of an earlier result by Bombieri and Hejhal on the distribution of zeros of linear combinations of $L$-functions, thus providing further evidence for the conjectured links between the value distribution of the characteristic polynomial of random unitary matrices and the value d...

In this note we initiate the probabilistic study of the critical points of polynomials of large degree with a given distribution of roots. Namely, let f be a polynomial of degree n whose zeros are chosen IID from a probability measure mu on the complex numbers. We conjecture that the zero set of f' always converges in distribution to mu as n goes to infinity. We prove this for measures with finite one-dimensional energy. When mu is uniform on the unit circle this condition fa...

We investigate the local distribution of roots of random functions of the form $F_n(z)= \sum_{i=1}^n \xi_i \phi_i(z) $, where $\xi_i$ are independent random variables and $\phi_i (z) $ are arbitrary analytic functions. Starting with the fundamental works of Kac and Littlewood-Offord in the 1940s, random functions of this type have been studied extensively in many fields of mathematics. We develop a robust framework to solve the problem by reducing, via universality theorems...

The average density of zeros for monic generalized polynomials, $P_n(z)=\phi(z)+\sum_{k=1}^nc_kf_k(z)$, with real holomorphic $\phi ,f_k$ and real Gaussian coefficients is expressed in terms of correlation functions of the values of the polynomial and its derivative. We obtain compact expressions for both the regular component (generated by the complex roots) and the singular one (real roots) of the average density of roots. The density of the regular component goes to zero i...

We consider a uniform distribution on the set $\mathcal{M}_k$ of moments of order $k \in \mathbb{N}$ corresponding to probability measures on the interval $[0,1]$. To each (random) vector of moments in $\mathcal{M}_{2n-1}$ we consider the corresponding uniquely determined monic (random) orthogonal polynomial of degree $n$ and study the asymptotic properties of its roots if $n \to \infty$.