Nonzero Constant Wronskians of Polynomials and Laurent Polynomials, and Geometric Consequences

Abstract

We characterize the polynomials $p_1(t), ... , p_n(t)$ whose Wronskian $W(p_1, ... , p_n)$ is a nonzero constant. Then, we generalize our results to characterize the Laurent polynomials with the same property. Finally, for rational functions we prove an impossibility result for $n=2$, and pose the case $n \geq 3$ as an open question, although we suggest an impossibility conjecture. Some geometric consequences are derived, especially in the case of polynomials.