Separation theorems for group invariant polynomials (Q1742947)

The present article investigates the existence of separation theorems by polynomials. This is a variation of the complex Hahn-Banach separation theorem, which establishes that if \(K\subset\mathbb C^n\) is a closed convex set and \(z\) is a point in \(\mathbb C^n\setminus K\), then there exists a complex linear form \(f\) with sup\(_{w\in K}\{\mathrm{Re}(f(w))\}< \mathrm{Re}(f(z))\). If we assume that \(K\) is balanced we can replace the real part of \(f\) by the modulus of \(f\): sup\(_{w\in K}|f(w)|<|f(z)|\). In this work, the authors change the conditions on \(K\) by assuming that \(K\) is invariant under the action of a finite group of linear transformations. The function \(f\) will then be a polynomial. We say that a polynomial \(P\) separates a set \(K\) and a point \(z\) if sup\(_{w\in K}|P(w)|<|P(z)|\). In the main result, Theorem 2.3, is proven that if \(G\) is a finite subgroup of the general linear group \(\mathrm{GL}(n,\mathbb C)\), \(K\subset \mathbb C^n\) is invariant under the action of \(G\) and \(z\) is a point in \(\mathbb C^n\setminus K\) that can be separated from \(K\) by a polynomial \(Q\), then \(z\) can be separated from \(K\) by a \(G\)-invariant polynomial \(P\). Furthermore, if \(Q\) is homogeneous then \(P\) can be chosen to be homogeneous. As a corollary is obtained that if \(K\) is a symmetric polynomially convex compact set in \(\mathbb C^n\) and \(z\notin K\) then there exists a symmetric polynomial that separates \(z\) and \(K\).