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Okutsu invariants and Newton polygons

Let K be a local field of characteristic zero, O its ring of integers and F(x) a monic irreducible polynomial with coefficients in O. K. Okutsu attached to F(x) certain primitive divisor polynomials F_1(x),..., F_r(x), that are specially close to F(x) with respect to their degree. In this paper we characterize the Okutsu families [F_1,..., F_r] in terms of certain Newton polygons of higher order, and we derive some applications: closed formulas for certain Okutsu invariants, the discovery of new Okutsu invariants, or the construction of Montes approximations to F(x); these are monic irreducible polynomials sufficiently close to F(x) to share all its Okutsu invariants. This perspective widens the scope of applications of Montes' algorithm, which can be reinterpreted as a tool to compute the Okutsu polynomials and a Montes approximation, for each irreducible factor of a monic separable polynomial f(x) in O[x].