The support of the equilibrium measure in the presence of a monomial external field on $[-1,1]$

Abstract

The support of the equilibrium measure associated with an external field of the form $Q(x) = - cx^{2m+1}$, $x \in [-1,1]$, with $c > 0$ and $m$ a positive integer is investigated. It is shown that the support consists of at most two intervals. This resolves a question of Deift, Kriecherbauer and McLaughlin.