Toric difference variety (Q2402229)

Difference algebra and difference algebraic geometry were founded by \textit{J. F. Ritt} and \textit{J. L. Doob} [Am. J. Math. 55, 505--514 (1933; Zbl 0008.01804)] and \textit{R. Cohn} [Difference algebra. New York-London-Sydney: Interscience Publishers, a division of John Wiley and Sons (1965; Zbl 0127.26402)]. A difference ring, or \(\sigma \)-ring for short, is a ring \(R\) together with a ring endomorphism \(\sigma : R \rightarrow R\). If \(R\) is a field, then it is called a difference field, or a \(\sigma \)-field. A morphism between \(\sigma \)-rings \(R\) and \(S\) is a ring homomorphism \( R \rightarrow S\) which commutes with the difference operators. Let \(k\) be a \(\sigma \)-field. A \(k\)-algebra \(R\) is called a \(k\)-\(\sigma \)-algebra if the algebraic structure map \(k \rightarrow R\) is a morphism of \(\sigma \)-rings. In this way \(\sigma \)-polynomial rings are defined as well as \(\sigma \)-ideals. The aim of this paper is to introduce \(\sigma \)-torus and then as in the usual case define \(\sigma \)-toric varieties and \(\sigma \)-toric ideals, study their properties and compute some \(\sigma \)-invariants like dimension or Gröbner basis. The authors illustrate this theory by many examples.