The minimal cone of an algebraic Laurent series (Q2122079)

The classical Newton-Puiseux theorem explicitly determines the algebraic closure of the field of formal power series \(\mathbb{K}((x))\) in one variable over a field \(\mathbb{K}\) of characteristic zero. It identifies this algebraic closure as the field of Puiseux series \(\mathbb{K}\{\{x\}\}\) whose elements are of the form \(\sum_{j=j_0}^{\infty} a_j x^{j/N}\) where \(j_0\) is an integer and \(N\) is a positive integer. A generalisation of the Newton-Puiseux theorem to more than one variable involves subtleties: for one, the (usual) product of two arbitrary Laurent power series in \(n\) variables is not well-defined, in general. The direct generalisation of Puiseux series to multiple variables as series of the form \(\sum_{\mathfrak{j} \geq (j_1,\dots,j_n)}a_{\mathfrak{j} \mathfrak{x}^{\mathfrak{j}}/N}\) (where \(\mathfrak{j} \geq (j_1,\dots,j_n)\) is coordinate-wise dominance) does not provide an algebraic closure of \(\mathbb{K}((x_1,\dots,x_n))\), the field of formal power series in \(n\)-variables even when \(\mathbb{K}\) has characteristic zero. As a result of MacDonald states that given any Weierstrass polynomial with coefficients in \(\mathbb{K}[x_1,\dots,x_n]\), each of its roots can be expressed as a Laurent Puiseux series (they are formal power series in \(n\)-variables whose support is contained in \(\mathbb{Z}^n/k\) for some natural number \(k\) that depends on the series) whose support is contained in a translation of a rational strongly convex cone in \(\mathbb{R}^n\) and containing \(\mathbb{R}^n_{\geq 0}\). However, not every Laurent Puiseux series of this type is algebraic over \(\mathbb{K}((x_1,\dots,x_n))\) and an ``effective'' characterisation of its algebraic elements is not known. The main contribution of the article under review is to provide necessary conditions under which a Laurent Puiseux series with support in a rational strongly convex cone that contains \(\mathbb{R}^n_{\geq 0}\) is algebraic over \(\mathbb{K}((x_1,\dots,x_n))\) where \(\mathbb{K}\) is an arbitrary field. The main object introduced is the following cone \(\tau (\xi)\) associated with a power series \(\xi\) (with support in \(\mathbb{Q}^n\)) defined as follows: it consists of all vectors \(\omega \in \mathbb{R}^n\) (with non-negative coordinates) for which there exists a \(k \in \mathbb{R}\): the hyperplane \(\omega \cdot \mathfrak{x} \leq k\) does not intersect the support of \(\xi\). Note that \(\tau(\xi)\) is a cone but is not, in general, a polyhedral. The first main result (Theorem 1.3) states that if \(\xi\) is an algebraic Laurent Puiseux series with support in a rational strongly convex cone that contains \(\mathbb{R}^n_{\geq 0}\), then the cone \(\tau(\xi)\) is a rational, strongly convex cone and \(\tau(\xi)^{\vee}\) is the minimal cone whose translate contains the support of \(\xi\) (Corollary 1.4). A natural question that arises in this context is ``how far'' the support of \(\xi\) is from being a translate of \(\tau(\xi)\). Theorem 1.5 asserts that there is a finite subset \(C\) of \(\mathbb{Z}^n\), a Laurent polynomial \(p\) and a power series \(f\) (both in \(n\) variables with coefficients in \(\mathbb{K}\)) such that the support of \(\xi+p+f\) satisfies the following two conditions: (i) it is contained in \(C+\tau(\xi)^{\vee}\) and (ii) its intersection with any given unbounded facet \(F\) of the closure of the convex hull of \(C+\tau(\xi)^{\vee}\) has infinite cardinality. Theorem 1.6 partially extends Theorem 1.5 to arbitrary faces of the convex hull of \(C+\tau(\xi)^{\vee}\) in the following sense. First, note that for every Laurent polynomial \(p\), we have \(\tau(\xi)=\tau(\xi+p)\) and a point \(u\) in the boundary of \(\tau(\xi)\) corresponds to a face \(F_{u,p}\), say in the closure of the convex hull of the support of \(\xi+p\). Theorem 1.6 states that for every \(u \in \mathbb{R}^n_{>0}\) in the boundary of \(\tau(\xi)\), there is a Laurent polynomial \(p_u\) such that the corresponding face \(F_{u,p_u}\) of the closure of the convex hull of the support of \(\xi+p_u\) intersects the support of \(\xi\) at infinitely many points. Acknowledgments: We thank Fuensanta Aroca for clarifying key aspects of this article.