Algebraically constructible functions and signs of polynomials

Abstract: We show that on real algebraic sets algebraically constructible functions coincide with the finite sums of signs of polynomials. Then we give some applications.

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The general context, the paper deals with, is the following: Let be given real algebraic sets \(W\) and \(X\subset W\times \mathbb{R}^n\) satisfying the condition \(W\times \{0\} \subset X\). The real algebraic set \(X\) may be given by a polynomial function \(F:W\times \mathbb{R}^n\to \mathbb{R}^m\) as \(X=F^{-1} (0)\). For \(w\in W\) let us write \(X_w:= \{y\in \mathbb{R}^n; (w;y) \in X\}\) and \(F_w:\mathbb{R}^n \to\mathbb{R}^m\) for the polynomial function defined by \(F_w(y): =F(w;y)\), where \(y\) is any point of \(\mathbb{R}^n\). Thus \((X_w)_{w\in W}\) and \((F_w)_{w\in W}\) are by the real algebraic variety \(W\) parametrized families of real algebraic sets and polynomial functions. The paper addresses particular aspects of the following general problem: What can be said about the families \((X_w)_{w\in W}\) and \((F_w)_{w\in W}\) in terms of the (abstract) parameter variety \(W\) only? What are the ``invariant properties of these objects? The paper gives the following answers to these questions: Let \(m=n\). Suppose that for any \(w\in W\) the point \(0\in \mathbb{R}^n\) is isolated in \(F_w^{-1}(0)\). For \(w\in W\) denote by \(\deg_0F_w\) the topological degree of \(F_w\) in the point \(0\in \mathbb{R}^n\). Then there exist polynomial functions \(g_1, \dots, g_s\) defined on the real algebraic variety \(W\), such that for any \(w\in W\) the identity \(\deg_0 F_w= \text{sign} g_1(w) +\cdots +\text{sign} g_s(w)\) holds (theorem 3.4). For any point \(w\in W\) let us denote by \(\chi (X_\omega)\) the Euler characteristic of \(X_w\). Then there are polynomial functions \(g_1, \dots, g_s\), defined on the real algebraic variety \(W\), such that \(\chi (X_w)=\text{sign} g_1 (w)+ \dots+\text{sign} g_s(w)\) holds for any \(w\in W\). - In particular, if \(W\) is irreducible, there exist a proper real algebraic subset \(\Sigma \subset W\), an integer \(\mu\) and a polynomial function \(g:W\to \mathbb{R}\), with \(g\) nowhere vanishing on \(W \setminus\Sigma\), such that for any point \(w\in W\setminus \Sigma\) the congruence relations \(\chi (X_w) \equiv \mu+ \text{sign} g(w) \pmod 4\) and \(\chi (X_w) \equiv \mu+1 \pmod 2\) hold (theorem 5.3). These results are applied to algebraically constructible functions define on the real algebraic variety \(W\) (i.e. to functions \(\varphi: W\to \mathbb{Z}\) which admit a presentation as a finite sum \(\varphi= \sum_{1\leq i\leq t} m_if_i* \mathbf{1}_{Z_i}\) where, for any \(1\leq i\leq t\), \(Z_i\) is a real algebraic set which characteristic function \(\mathbf{1}_{Z_i}\) is a proper regular morphism, \(f_i* \mathbf{1}_{Z_i}: =\int_{Z_i} f_i\) and \(m_1, \dots, m_t\) are integers. - In this context, the authors show the following results: A given integer valued function \(\varphi: W\to \mathbb{Z}\) is algebraically constructible if and only if there exist polynomial functions \(g_1, \dots, g_s:W\to \mathbb{R}\) such that for any point \(w\in W\), the identity \(\varphi (w)= \text{sign} g_1(w) +\cdots +\text{sign} g_s (w)\) holds (theorem 6.1). Let \(m=n\). Assume that for any \(w\in W\) the point \(0\in \mathbb{R}^n\) is isolated in \(F_w^{-1} (0)\). Then, the map which assigns to any point \(w\in W\) the value \(\deg_0F_w\) is algebraically constructible. -- Moreover, the function which assigns to any point \(w\in W\) the value \(\chi(X_w)\) is algebraically constructible (corollary 6.2). Assume that the real algebraic set \(W\) is irreducible. Let \(\varphi: W\to \mathbb{Z}\) be an algebraic constructible function. Then there exist a proper real algebraic subset \(\Sigma \subset W\), an integer \(\mu\) and a polynomial function \(g:W\to \mathbb{R}\), nowhere vanishing on \(W \smallsetminus \Sigma\), such that the congruence relations \(\varphi(w) \equiv\mu +\text{sign} g(w) \pmod 4\) and \(\varphi(w) \equiv \mu+1 \pmod 2\) hold (corollary 6.3). Let \(\varphi: W\to \mathbb{Z}\) be an algebraically constructible function. For \(w\in W\) let \(\Lambda \varphi (w): =\int_{S_{(w, \varepsilon)}}\varphi\), where \(S_{(w, \varepsilon)}\) is the \(\varepsilon\)-sphere centered at the point \(w\) for sufficient small \(\varepsilon>0\). Let \(D\varphi: =\varphi -\Lambda \varphi\). Then \(1\over 2\Lambda \varphi\) is integer valued and algebraically constructible (theorem 6.4).

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