Acta Mathematica Vietnamica

We establish some relations between the polar curve and the discriminant locus of a polynomial $f$ of two complex variables. We then describe the set of bifurcation values of $f$ via its discriminant locus. Based on the Puiseux expansions at infinity of the discriminant locus of $f$, we also give certain sufficient conditions for the geometric monodromy of $f$ around a critical value at infinity to have no fixed points.

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