On degree bounds for the sparse Nullstellensatz (Q2312873)

\textit{D. Hilbert}'s Nullstellensatz [Math. Ann. 42, 313--373 (1893; JFM 25.0173.01)] provides algebraic certificates for the infeasibility of systems of polynomial equations over algebraically closed fields. The question of bounding the degree of such certificates has a long history and culminated in \textit{J. Kollár}'s work [J. Am. Math. Soc. 1, No. 4, 963--975 (1988; Zbl 0682.14001)] which did not leave much space for improvement if one wants to formulate general upper bounds on the degree in terms of the degrees of the polynomial equations. \textit{N. Fitchas} and \textit{A. Galligo} provided a more algebraic approach to the results of Kollar [Math. Nachr. 149, 231--253 (1990; Zbl 0729.14001)]. Another breakthrough was the work of \textit{M. Sombra} [Adv. Appl. Math. 22, No. 2, 271--295 (1999; Zbl 0933.14001)] taking into account to a certain extent sparsity in both the system of polynomial equations and the certificate. Sombra's sparse Nullstellensatz has been improved considerably under the hypothesis that the given system of polynomial equation has no common roots at toric infinity by \textit{J. F. Canny} and \textit{I. Z. Emiris} [J. ACM 47, No. 3, 417--451 (2000; Zbl 1094.65508)], \textit{J. Tuitman} [Int. Math. Res. Not. 2011, No. 7, 1560--1572 (2011; Zbl 1217.14046)] and \textit{E. Wulcan} [Math. Ann. 350, No. 3, 661--682 (2011; Zbl 1234.32001)]. The paper under review provides similar results for general systems without any hypothesis concerning toric infinity. Sparsity of the input system is again taken into account but the output certificate is only bounded in degree without any sparsity considerations. From results of \textit{Z. Jelonek} [Invent. Math. 162, No. 1, 1--17 (2005; Zbl 1087.14003)], the authors obtain degree bounds depending on the volume of a convex polytope containing the supports of the given equations and the vertex set of the standard unitary simplex. Their bounds distinguish the different supports of the given polynomials. They also prove bounds for the Noether exponent of ideals in the same setting. In this mixed sparse setting, the bounds are considerably smaller than previously known bounds.