The exponential growth of codimensions for Capelli identities (Q1972838)

The notion of Capelli identity is quite important in PI theory. Let \(F\) be a field of characteristic 0, and consider the free associative algebra \(F(X)\) that is freely generated over \(F\) by the variables \(X=\{x_1,x_2,\ldots\}\). The \(m+1\)-Capelli polynomials are defined as \(c_{m+1}=\sum(-1)^\sigma x_{\sigma(1)}y_1x_{\sigma(2)}y_2\cdots y_mx_{\sigma(m+1)}\), \(y_i\in F(X)\), where the sum runs over all permutations of the symmetric group \(S_{m+1}\), and set \(I=I_{m+1}\) the T-ideal in \(F(X)\) generated by all polynomials \(c_{m+1}\). (One admits some of \(y_i\) being equal to 1.) If \(V\) is a variety of \(F\)-algebras, one defines its exponent \(\text{Exp}(V)=\lim_{n\to\infty}\root n\of{c_n(V)}\) where \(c_n(V)\) stands for the \(n\)-th codimension of \(V\). Recently it was proved by \textit{A. Giambruno} and \textit{M. Zaicev} [Adv. Math. 140, No. 2, 145-155 (1998; Zbl 0920.16012) and ibid. 142, No. 2, 221-243 (1999; Zbl 0920.16013)] that \(\text{Exp}(V)\) exists for any variety and is an integer. The paper under review deals with the exponents of the varieties \(U_{m+1}\) determined by the T-ideals \(I_{m+1}\). Namely it is proved that \(\text{Exp}(U_{m+1})\) lies between \(m-3\) and \(m\). In fact the authors give an explicit formula for calculating \(\text{Exp}(U_{m+1})\). It equals \(\max\{a_1,a_2,a_3,a_4\}\) where \(a_j=\max\{d_1^2+\cdots+d_j^2\}\) for \(d_i\) positive integers and \(d_1^2+\cdots+d_j^2+j\leq m+1\). Thus the above exponent equals \(m\) if and only if \(m\) is a perfect square. The Addendum contains a nice application of the above results to number theory. If we denote \(a_j=a_j(m)\) then from the four squares theorem it follows that \(a_4(m)=m-3\), and that \(\text{Exp}(U_{m+1})=b_m=\max\{a_1,a_2,a_3,a_4\}\). If \(W_i=\{m\mid b(m)=m-i\}\), \(0\leq i\leq 3\) then the natural densities of the sets \(W_i\) are shown to be respectively 0, 0, \(5/6\) and \(1/6\).