Spaces of sums of powers and real rank boundaries (Q1992184)

The authors study certain properties of Waring decompositions of real homogeneous forms. In particular, they are interested in the algebraic boundary of the Space of Sums of Powers, the semialgebraic subset of the real locus of the Variety of Sums of Powers as defined in [\textit{K. Ranestad} and \textit{F.-O. Schreyer}, J. Reine Angew. Math. 525, 147--181 (2000; Zbl 1078.14506)]. Using the ``anti-polar form'' of a general form of even degree, they can explicitly describe the algebraic boundary of the Space of Sums of Powers for quaternary quadrics. In the second part of their paper, the authors study real general forms of degree \(d\) in \(n\) variables whose real rank equals the complex rank. They form a Zariski dense semialgebraic set \({\mathcal R}_{n,d}\). An algorithm for computing unique Waring decompositions of ternary forms leads to a complete description of the algebraic boundary of \({\mathcal R}_{4,3}\). One component of the boundary of \({\mathcal R}_{4,4}\) equals the dual of the variety of surfaces defined by the determinant of a symmetric \(4 \times 4\)-matrix of linear forms.