A toric positivstellensatz with applications to delay systems (Q2431137)

In this short note the authors characterize polynomials positive on the torus \[ \mathbb T^g := \big\{ z\in \mathbb C^g \mid \forall i=1,\ldots,g: \; |z_i|=1\big\}. \] The main result is as follows: \(q\in \mathbb C[z_1,\ldots,z_g]\) satisfies \(q(z)\neq0\) for all \(z\in\mathbb T^g\) iff there are \(p_j,r_k\in \mathbb C[z_1,\ldots,z_g]\) satisfying \[ 1+ \sum_j |p_j(z)|^2 = |q(z)|^2 \Big( \sum_k |r_k(z)|^2 \Big) \quad \text{for all }z\in\mathbb T^g. \] The proof uses two classical results from real algebraic geometry, Krivine's Positivstellensatz and the Positivstellensatz of the second author. The note concludes with an application to delay systems: the authors propose some simple conditions for testing the hyperbolicity/stability of a generic class of linear systems of retarded type.