On complete system of invariants for the binary form of degree 7 (Q2469232)

The group \(G=\text{SL}_2(\mathbb C)\) acts on the \(\mathbb C\) vector space \(V_d\) of binary forms of degree \(d\) and hence its coordinate ring \(\mathbb C[V_d]\). The ring \(I_d=\mathbb C[V_d]^G\) is the algebra of invariants, a topic of classical interest and the subject of this paper. The author presents a methodology to compute a system of generating elements for this algebra; more precisely, a set of homogeneous elements of \(I_d\) whose images modulo the square of the ideal of generated by all positive degree homogeneous elements is a \(\mathbb C\) basis. He carries out the method to produce such a basis for the case \(d=7\). (A spanning set was discovered by Gall in 1880.) The method uses the fact that \(G\) invariants are \(\text{Lie}(G)\) invariants, that the Lie algebra acts by derivaions, and this Lie algebra is generated by two derivations acting locally nilpotently. These observations allow the construction of a convenient generating system for their kernels, and the subsequent calculations are carried out, partly by \texttt{Maple}, using this generating system as coordinates. Interestingly, the final basis element is obtained from Gall's list. Reviewer's remark: Even readers uninterested in the specific case \(d=7\) will benefit from learning about the methods the author presents in this paper. It is a pity, therefore, that there are typographical errors, beginning with the first line of the introduction, where \(n\) appears where \(d\) should, and that the author regularly misuses articles, for example in the fourth sentence of the introduction, where the indefinite ``an'' should be the definite ``the''.