Graph theory and classical invariant theory (Q1263642)

The contents of the paper follows: In Section 2 a survey on the basic concepts of invariants and covariants of binary forms is given. Section 3 introduces the symbolic method of Aronhold. The bracket polynomials, which play a fundamental role in the symbolic computations, are discussed in Section 4. Section 5 begins the heart of the paper and presents the molecular/graphical representation of invariants and covariants based on their symbolic bracket expressions. The syzygies or relations among bracket polynomials translate into operations with their graphical equivalents, leading to an ``algebra of digraphs''; these are discussed in Section 6. The remaining two sections are devoted to a simplified explanation of the constructive method of Gordan for the determination of the Hilbert basis of covariants for binary forms of a given degree. This method is based on the idea of ``transvection'', which can be reinterpreted as a way of reacting two different molecules or digraphs together to produce more complicated molecules/digraphs. The construction of the basis of covariants is illustrated in the final section by the simplest cases of a binary quadratic, cubic, and quartic polynomial.