Roots of real-valued zero mean maps: Compositions of linear functionals and equivariant maps

Abstract We develop a novel topological framework that yields results constraining the distribution of zeros of certain zero mean real-valued maps, namely those obtained from composing a fixed equivariant map with linear functionals. We use this framework to establish upper bounds for the topology of set systems in the domain where (multivariate) trigonometric polynomials do not change their sign, generalizing and, in certain regimes, strengthening results in the literature. Our results more generally contain restrictions on the distribution of zeros of Chebyshev spaces as special cases. Lastly, we apply this framework to derive existence results for efficient cubature rules for compositions of affine functionals and equivariant maps.