Bitangents of real algebraic curves: signed count and constructions

Abstract

We study real bitangents of real algebraic plane curves from two perspectives. We first show that there exists a signed count of such bitangents that only depends on the real topological type of the curve. From this follows that a generic real algebraic curve of even degree $d$ has at least $\frac{d(d-2)}{2}$ real bitangents. Next we explain how to locate (real) bitangents of a (real) perturbation of a multiple (real) conic in $\mathbb{C}P^2$. As main applications, we exhibit a real sextic with a total of $318$ real bitangents and 6 complex ones, and perform asymptotical constructions that give the best, to our knowledge, number of real bitangents of real algebraic plane curves of a given degree.