The lemniscate tree of a random polynomial

To each generic complex polynomial $p(z)$ there is associated a labeled binary tree (here referred to as a "lemniscate tree") that encodes the topological type of the graph of $|p(z)|$. The branching structure of the lemniscate tree is determined by the configuration (i.e., arrangement in the plane) of the singular components of those level sets $|p(z)|=t$ passing through a critical point. In this paper, we address the question "How many branches appear in a typical lemniscate tree?" We answer this question first for a lemniscate tree sampled uniformly from the combinatorial class and second for the lemniscate tree arising from a random polynomial generated by i.i.d. zeros. From a more general perspective, these results take a first step toward a probabilistic treatment (within a specialized setting) of Arnold's program of enumerating algebraic Morse functions.