Polynomials with and without determinantal representations

By Tim Netzer, Andreas Thom. 2010

62 citations recorded by the source corpus.

The problem of writing real zero polynomials as determinants of linear matrix polynomials has recently attracted a lot of attention. Helton and Vinnikov have proved that any real zero polynomial in two variables has a determinantal representation. Br\"and\'en has shown that the result does not extend to arbitrary numbers of variables, disproving the generalized Lax conjecture. We prove that in fact almost no real zero polynomial admits a determinantal representation; there are dimensional differences between the two sets. So the generalized Lax conjecture fails badly. The result follows from a general upper bound on the size of linear matrix polynomials. We then provide a large class of surprisingly simple explicit real zero polynomials that do not have a determinantal representation, improving upon Br\"and\'en's mostly unconstructive result. We finally characterize polynomials of which some power has a determinantal representation, in terms of an algebra with involution having a finite dimensional representation. We use the characterization to prove that any quadratic real zero polynomial has a determinantal representation, after taking a high enough power. Taking powers is thereby really necessary in general. The representations emerge explicitly, and we characterize them up to unitary equivalence.

Subfields: Computational Theory and Mathematics, Numerical Analysis

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/21147c2c4a2e9e76efbbb9c67984a82a17b7013c

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In Computational Theory and Mathematics

1. Victor Vinnikov
2. Petter Brand'en
3. Adam W. Marcus

In Numerical Analysis

1. Victor Vinnikov
2. Petter Brand'en
3. Adam W. Marcus

Citations in the corpus

• LMI Representations of Convex Semialgebraic Sets and Determinantal Representations of Algebraic Hypersurfaces: Past, Present, and Future (2012, methodology): “7 has been established in [43] using Clifford algebra techniques.”