Waring rank of binary forms, harmonic cross-ratio and golden ratio (Q2083529)

Let \(S=\mathbb{C}[x,y]\) and denote by \(S_{d}\) the vector space of homogeneous polynomials of degree \(d\) in \(S\), and let \(f \in S_{d}\) be a binary form of degree \(d\). We consider the Waring decomposition \[ f = \ell_{1}^{d} + \cdots + \ell_{r}^{d}, \] where \(\ell_{j} \in S_{1}\) are linear forms in \(x,y\), and \(r\) is minimal possible, so \(r=\mathrm{rank}(f)\) is the Waring rank of \(f\). In the paper under review, the authors study the Waring rank of binary forms of degree \(4\) and \(5\), without multiple factors. In the case of binary forms of degree \(4\), the authors show that the Waring rank is \(2\) if and only if \(j\)-invariant associated with a form \(f\) is equal to \(1\), and the Waring rank is equal to \(3\) otherwise. This is a very interesting and unexpected observation. Furthermore, the authors study binary quintics without multiple factors and it turns out that being a form with the Waring rank equal to \(2\) is strictly related with the golden ratio. In the last part of the paper the authors study the Waring rank of some ternary forms of the shape \(f(x,y,z)=z\cdot g(x,y)\) and such forms are associated with simple line arrangements. As a result, the authors show that combinatorics of a line arrangement in the complex projective plane does not determine the Waring rank of the defining equation.