Complex Analysis – Roots of f(z)=z^4+8z^3+3z^2+8z+3=0 in Right Half Plane

complex-analysis

This is a question in Ahlfors in the section on the argument principle: How many roots of the equation $f(z)=z^4+8z^3+3z^2+8z+3=0$ lie in the right half plane?

He gives a hint that we should "sketch the image of the imaginary axis and apply the argument principle to a large half disk."

Since $f$ is an entire function, I think I understand that the argument principle tells us that for any closed curve $\gamma$ in $\mathbb{C}$, the winding number of $f(\gamma)$ around 0 is equal to the number of zeros of $f$ contained inside $\gamma$.

How would you go about actually applying the hint though? I am having trouble figuring out what the image of a large half disk under $f$ would look like.

Best Answer

Some analysis of the behavior on the imaginary axis allows you to tell the net change in argument over the diameter of the semicircle, from $Ri$ to $-Ri$ for some big positive $R$. Noticing that the real part of $f(it)$ is $t^4-3t^2+3=\left(t^2-\frac{3}{2}\right)^2+\frac{3}{4}>0$, you can see first of all that there can be no winding about zero on the imaginary axis. Furthermore, since the real part of $f$ on the imaginary axis has degree $4$ and the imaginary part of $f$ on the imaginary axis has degree $3$, the real part of $f(\pm Ri)$ will be much larger than the imaginary part of $f(\pm Ri)$ for large $R$, which means that the argument of $f$ at the endpoints of the diameter will be near zero, and you can conclude that there is near $0$ net change in argument along the diameter of the semicircle.

This leaves the analysis of the change in argument of $f(Re^{i\theta})$ as $\theta$ ranges from $-\frac{\pi}{2}$ to $\frac{\pi}{2}$. For this, it is helpful to note that $\frac{1}{R^4}f(Re^{i\theta})=e^{4i\theta}\left(1+\frac{8}{R}e^{-i\theta}+\frac{3}{R^2}e^{-2i\theta}+\frac{8}{R^3}e^{-3i\theta}+\frac{3}{R^4}e^{-4i\theta}\right)$ is near $e^{4i\theta}$ when $R$ is large.

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