Ranks of tensors, secant varieties of Segre varieties and fat points (Q1855380)

The problem of how to minimally represent certain kinds of tensors as a sum of tensors of a prescribed type (e.g.decomposable), arises in different contexts such as algebraic complexity theory, representation theory, algebraic coding theory. It is well known that solving this problem is linked to determining the dimensions of certain secant varieties to Segre embeddings of an arbitrary product of projective spaces. An important subsidiary problem is that of finding the smallest integer \(t\) for which the secant variety of projective \(t\)-spaces fills the ambient projective space. In this paper the authors give a new approach to these problems: they show how to convert questions about secant varieties into questions concerning the calculation of a specific value of the Hilbert function of the ideal of a scheme of \(2\)-fat points in a multiprojective space. They solve the Hilbert function problem in several cases and compair their results with the literature, focusing especially the case of three factors.