On sums of squares of \(K\)-nomials (Q1979337)

The paper under reviews deals with sums of squares certificates for nonnegative real polynomials. This is of practical importance for approximating the infimum of real polynomials by using semidefinite programming. Central is here a meanwhile classical result by \textit{B. Reznick} [Math. Z. 220, No. 1, 75--97 (1995; Zbl 0828.12002)]: Any positive definite form of degree \(2d\) in \(n\) variables can be written as a sum of squares after being multiplied by a sufficiently high power of \(x_1^2+\ldots +x_n^2\). For efficiency in semidefinite programming, it is interesting to impose restraints on sums of square certificates; for example to bound the number of monomials. Given a natural number \(k\), a \(k\)-nomial is of the form \(\alpha_1m_1+\ldots\alpha_km_k\) with \(\alpha_1,\ldots,\alpha_k\) reals and \(m_1,\ldots,m_k\) monomials. In the cases \(k=2, 3, 4\) one speaks of binomials, trinomials and tetranomials, respectively. For quadratic forms the authors show the limitations of the multiplier method in certain cases. The main result is the following: Theorem: Let \(p\) be a quadratic form in \(n\) variables. When any of the following holds \begin{itemize} \item[1.] \(p\) is symmetric, \item[2.] \(k=2\), \item[3.] \(n=4\) and \(k=3\), \end{itemize} then there exists a nonnegative integer \(r\) such that \((x_1^2+\ldots x_n^2)^r p\) is a sum of squared\\ \(k\)-nomials if and only if \(p\) itself is a sum of squared \(k\)-nomials. For the proof the concept of factor width for a real symmetric positive semidefinite matrix is used (cf. [\textit{E. G. Boman} et al., Linear Algebra Appl. 405, 239--248 (2005; Zbl 1098.15014)]).