A nullstellensatz for amoebas (Q2475020)

The author considers algebraic varieties \(V \subseteq ({\mathbb C}^{\ast})^r\) and studies their amoebas. The variety \(V\) is defined by an ideal \(I \subseteq {\mathbb C}[Z_1,Z_1^{-1}, \dots,Z_r,Z_r^{-1}]\). The associated amoeba \(\mathcal{A}_I\) is the image of the map \(\mathrm{Log}:({\mathbb C}^{\ast})^r \rightarrow {\mathbb R}^r\), \((z_1, \dots, z_r) \rightarrow (\log|z_1|, \dots,\log|z_r|)\). A fundamental question about \(\mathcal{A}_I\) is: Given \(a \in {\mathbb R}^r\), how can one recognize whether \(a \in \mathcal{A}_I\)? The author writes an element \(f \in {\mathbb C}[Z_1,Z_1^{-1}, \dots,Z_r,Z_r^{-1}]\) as a sum of monomials, \(f = m_1(Z) + \dots + m_d(Z)\) and considers the sequence \(f\{a\} = (|m_1(z)|, \dots |m_d(z)|)\), where \(z \in \mathrm{Log}^{-1}(a)\). Such a sequence is called \textit{lopsided} if one of the members is larger than the sum of all the others. The author proves the following Theorem. An element \(a \in {\mathbb R}^r\) belongs to \(\mathcal{A}_I\) if and only if the sequence \(f\{a\}\) is not lopsided for all \(f \in I\). An important part of the proof is an approximation of hypersurface amoebas by linear inequalities. Connections with tropical varieties are discussed.