How constant shifts affect the zeros of certain rational harmonic functions

Abstract

We study the effect of constant shifts on the zeros of rational harmomic functions f(z) = r(z) - \conj{z}. In particular, we characterize how shifting through the caustics of $f$ changes the number of zeros and their respective orientations. This also yields insight into the nature of the singular zeros of $f$. Our results have applications in gravitational lensing theory, where certain such functions $f$ represent gravitational point-mass lenses, and a constant shift can be interpreted as the position of the light source of the lens.Comment: 26 pages, 9 figure