Note on roots location of a symmetric polynomial with respect to the imaginary axis

Abstract

In the theory of the separation of roots of algebraic equations, the well-known Routh–Hurwitz–Fujiwara theorem enables us to separate the complex roots of a polynomial with complex coefficients in terms of the inertia of a related Hermitian matrix. Unfortunately, it fails if the polynomial has a nontrivial factor which is symmetric with respect to the imaginary axis. In this article, we present a method to overcome the fault and formulate the inertia of a scalar polynomial with complex coefficients in terms of the inertia of several Hermitian matrices based on a factorization of a monic symmetric polynomial into products of monic symmetric polynomials with only simple roots in the complex plane and on computing the inertia of each factor by means of a subtle perturbation.