On the strong separation conjecture (Q2331762)

The paper under review contains a partial result on the Pierce-Birkhoff conjecture. The latter is the following. Let \(R\) be a real closed field (for example the field \(\mathbb{R}\) of reals). A function \(f:R^n\to R\) is called \textit{piecewise polynomial} if there is a finite collection \(\mathcal{P}\) of closed semialgebraic sets covering \(R^n\) such that for every \(P\in\mathcal{P}\) there is a polynomial \(p\) such that \(g|_P=p\). The \textit{Pierce-Birkhoff conjecture} states that given a piecewise polynomial function \(f:R^n\to R\) there is a finite family of polynomials \(p_{ij}\) such that \(f=\sup_i\inf_j(p_{ij})\). The Pierce-Birkhoff conjecture has been solved by Mahé in the case \(n=2\) over the reals (see [\textit{L. Mahé}, Rocky Mt. J. Math. 14, 983--985 (1984; Zbl 0578.41008)]). This result has been generalized by \textit{C. N. Delzell} [Rocky Mt. J. Math. 19, No. 3, 651--668 (1989; Zbl 0715.14047)] to arbitray real closed fields. \textit{J. J. Madden} gave in [Arch. Math. 53, No. 6, 565--570 (1989; Zbl 0691.14012)] a translation of the conjecture into a purely algebraic statement in terms of the real spectrum of the polynomial ring and separating ideals. This algebraic formulation allows one also to speak about the Pierce-Birkhoff conjecture for arbitrary ring. In previous papers by the authors [Manuscr. Math. 128, No. 4, 505--547 (2009; Zbl 1169.14039); J. Algebra 435, 124--158 (2015; Zbl 1386.14197)] this algebraic Pierce-Birkhoff conjecture has been generalized to the \textit{connectedness conjecture} and the strong \textit{connecetedness conjecture} with the \textit{strong separation conjecture} as a special case. The main result of the paper under review is a proof of the strong separation conjecture under a certain assumption on the orderings (i.e. on the elements of the real spectrum) involved.