Moment functions on real algebraic sets (Q1197463)

Let \(X\) be a real algebraic subvariety of \(\mathbb{R}^ n\). The main problem treated in the paper under review is whether the power moment problem with support on \(X\) and virtual measure \(\mu\) has a solution in terms of the positivity of the associated representing functional: \(\varphi(p)= \int_ x p(x) d\mu(x)\), \(p\in \mathbb{R}[X_ 1,\dots, X_ n]\), plus the condition \(\varphi|_ I= 0\), where \(I\) is an ideal of the polynomial algebra \(\mathbb{R}[X_ 1,\dots, X_ n]\) with the zero locus equal to \(X\). First the distinction between various ideals with the same zero set is made precise from the point of view of that particular moment problem. Then an exhaustive analysis of the case of a real algebraic curve in \(\mathbb{R}^ 2\) is carried out in detail. This analysis reveals a few interesting pathologies, which in particular show that the above- mentioned question has a negative answer for the radical ideal of a union between a straight line and a parabola. Regarded from the point of view of the spectral theory of pairs of commuting symmetric operators, the same pathological example produces a formally normal, not subnormal, unbounded operator, which in addition satisfies an algebraic equation. The paper is of interest for the theory of moment problems in two or more dimensions, but also for the theory of unbounded subnormal operators.