Hyperdeterminants of polynomials (Q456756)

For the theory of hyperderminants of tensors, see [\textit{I. M. Gelfand}, \textit{M. M. Kapranov} and \textit{A. V. Zelevinsky} Discrimants, Resultants and multidimensional Determinants. Mathematics: Theory \&{} Applications. Boston, MA: Birkhäuser (1982; Zbl 0827.14036)]. The hyperdeterminant of a homogeneous polynomial is the hyperdeterminant of the associated symmetric tensor. It is often reducible and in the paper under review the author gives a complete description of its decomposition into irreducible factors with certain multiplicities. The indecomposable factors are the equations of certain Chow varieties, while the multiplicities are explicit multinomial coefficients. Geometrically, this theorem says that the symmetrization of the dual variety of the Segre variety is the union of several other varieties (with known multiplicities). For a concrete example of a reducible symmetrization of a hyperdeterminant, see [\textit{G. Ottaviani}, Nagoya Math. J. 193, 95--110 (2009; Zbl 1205.14064)], which motivated the general theory introduced here. As in the quoted book the paper under review proves a much more general result, not only for hyperdeterminants, but also for \(\mu\)-discriminants.