On varieties of commuting triples (Q2479515)

Let \(C(3, n)\) denote the variety of triples of commuting \(n \times n\) matrices over an algebraically closed field \(F\) of characteristic zero. The problem of approximating triples of commuting matrices by triples of commuting generic matrices \(G(3, n)\) (i.e., matrices having \(n\) distinct eigenvalues) is equivalent to that whether the variety \(C(3, n)\) is irreducible. Various authors proved that \(C(3, n)\) is irreducible for \(n \leq 7\) and reducible for \(n \geq 30\). In this paper, the variety \(C(3, 8)\) is studied. Using perturbation by generic triples it is proved that \(C(3, 8)\) is an irreducible variety. Results for dimension~8 are obtained in a shorter and cleaner way even when compared to the analogous result for dimension 7.