A version of Putinar's Positivstellensatz for cylinders (Q2220198)

A subset \(M\) of the polynomial ring \(\mathbb{R}[\overline X] = \overline{R}[X_1, \dots, X_n]\) (in \(n\) algebraically independent variables over the field \(\mathbb{R}\) of real numbers) is called a quadratic module in \(\mathbb{R}[\overline X]\) if it satisfies the following: \(1 \in M\), \(M + M \subset M\), and \(\mathbb{R}[\overline X]^2M \subset M\) (i.e. \(M\) is closed under multiplication by squares). The set \(\sum \mathbb{R}[\overline X]^2\) of sums of squares of elements of \(\mathbb{R}[\overline X]\) is a quadratic module in \(\mathbb{R}[\overline X]\), and given polynomials \(g_i \in \mathbb{R}[\overline X]\), \(i = 1, \dots, s\), the set \(M(g_1, \dots, g_s) = \{\sigma_0 + \sigma_1g_1+ \dots + \sigma_sg_s \mid \sigma_0, \sigma_1, \dots, \sigma_s \in \sum \mathbb{R}[\overline X]^2\}\) is the quadratic module generated by \(g_1, \dots, g_s\). A quadratic module \(M\) in \(\mathbb{R}[\overline X]\) is said to be archimedean if \(N - X_1^2 - \dots - X_n^2 \in M\), for some \(N \in \mathbb{R}\), \(N > 0\). Putinar's Positivstellensatz states that if \(g_1, \dots, g_s \in \mathbb{R}[\overline X]\) and the quadratic module \(M(g_1, \dots, g_s)\) is archimedean, then every \(f \in \mathbb{R}[\overline X]\) positive on the set \(S = \{\bar x \in \mathbb{R}^n \mid g_i(\bar x) \ge 0, i = 1, \dots, s\}\) belongs to \(M(g_1, \dots, g_s)\), which is a certificate of the non-negativity of \(f\) (see [\textit{M. Putinar}, Indiana Univ. Math. J. 42, No. 3, 969--984 (1993; Zbl 0796.12002)]). The paper under review shows that, under certain additional assumptions (considered earlier in Theorem 3 of: [\textit{V. Powers}, J. Pure Appl. Algebra 188, No. 1--3, 217--226 (2004; Zbl 1035.14022)], Putinar's Positivstellensatz holds; also, it provides a degree bound for the representation of a polynomial \(f \in \mathbb{R}[\overline X, Y]\) which is positive on \(S \times \mathbb{R}\) as an explicit element of \(M(g_1, \dots, g_s)\). Also, the authors show by example that an additional condition is necessary for Putinar's Positivstellensatz to hold on cylinders of this type. To prove the main result of the paper, they borrow and combine ideas from the papers [\textit{J. Nie} and \textit{M. Schweighofer}, J. Complexity 23, No. 1, 135--150 (2007; Zbl 1143.13028)], [\textit{M. Schweighofer}, J. Complexity 20, No. 4, 529--543 (2004; Zbl 1161.68480)], and the above-cited paper by Powers.