Symmetric tensor rank and scheme rank: an upper bound in terms of secant varieties (Q2260766)

Summary: Let \(X \subset \mathbb P^r\) be an integral and nondegenerate variety. Let \(c\) be the minimal integer such that \(\mathbb P^r\) is the \(c\)-secant variety of \(X\), that is, the minimal integer \(c\) such that for a general \(O \in \mathbb P^r\) there is \(S \subset X\) with \(\#(S)=c\) and \(O \in \langle S \rangle \), where \(\langle \rangle \) is the linear span. Here, we prove that for every \(P \in \mathbb P^r\) there is a zero-dimensional scheme \(Z \subset X\) such that \(P \in \langle Z \rangle \) and \(\deg(Z) \leq2c\); we may take \(Z\) as union of points and tangent vectors of \(X_{\mathrm{reg}}\).