On the First Non-Universal Term in Random Polynomial Real Zeros

Abstract: Let $P_n(x) = \sum_{k=0}^{n} \xi_k x^k$ be a Kac random polynomial, where the coefficients $\xi_k$ are i.i.d.\ copies of a given random variable $\xi$. Based on numerical experiments, it has been conjectured that if $\xi$ has mean zero, unit variance, and a finite $(2+\varepsilon_0)$-moment for some $\varepsilon_0>0$, then [ \mathbb{E}[N_{\mathbb{R}}(P_n)] \;=\; \frac{2}{\pi} \log n + C_{\xi} + o_n(1), ] where $N_{\mathbb{R}}(P_n)$ denotes the number of real roots of $P_n$, and $C_{\xi}$ is an absolute constant depending only on $\xi$, which is nonuniversal. Prior to this work, the existence of $C_{\xi}$ had only been established by Do-Nguyen-Vu (2015, \emph{Proc.\ Lond.\ Math.\ Soc.}) under the additional assumption that $\xi$ either admits a $(1+p)$-integrable density or is uniformly distributed on ${\pm 1, \pm 2, \dots, \pm N}$. In this paper, using a different method, we remove these extra conditions on $\xi$, and extend the result to the setting where the $\xi_k$ are independent but not necessarily identically distributed. Moreover, this proof strategy provides an alternative description of the constant $C_{\xi}$, and this new perspective serves as the key ingredient in establishing that $C_{\xi}$ depends continuously on the distribution of $\xi$.