Critical points of point charge potentials along lines

Abstract

We prove Conjecture 1.9 of Gabrielov-Novikov-Shapiro. More precisely, for every $p>0$, every nonconstant restriction to a line of a potential generated by $n$ point charges has at most $2n-1$ critical points. The bound is sharp, even for positive charges. The proof uses a duality with an auxiliary planar potential generated by collinear charges and Morse theory.