Projections of tropical varieties and their self-intersections (Q2882930)

Let \(K\) be a field with a real valuation, i.e. a map \(\text{val}:K\rightarrow \mathbb R\cup \{ \infty\}\). Given \(f=\sum_{\alpha} c_{\alpha} x^{\alpha}\in K[x_1,\ldots,x_n]\), the tropicalization of \(f\) is defined as NEWLINE\[NEWLINE\text{trop}(f)=\min_{\alpha}\{ \text{val}(c_{\alpha})+\alpha_1x_1+\ldots+\alpha_nx_n\}.NEWLINE\]NEWLINE The tropical hypersurface \(T(f)\) of \(f\) is the set of all \(\omega\in\mathbb R^n\) such that the minimum in \(\text{trop}(f)\) is attained at least twice in \(\omega\). Given an ideal \(I\) of \(K[x_1,\ldots,x_n]\), the tropical variety of \(I\) is given by \(T(I)=\bigcap_{f\in I} T(f)\). Let \(I\) be an ideal of \(K[x_1,\ldots,x_n]\) of dimension \(m\) and \(\pi:\mathbb R^n\rightarrow \mathbb R^{m+1}\) a projection defined by some rational matrix; such a map \(\pi\) is called rational projection. Then the fiber \(\pi^{-1}(\pi(T(I)))\) is a tropical variety. Fix a basis \(v^{(1)},\ldots,v^{(l)}\in \mathbb Z^n\) spanning the kernel of the projection \(\pi\). For any \(f\in I\), let NEWLINE\[NEWLINE\tilde f=f(x_1\prod_{j=1}^l \lambda_j^{v_1^{(j)}},\ldots,x_n\prod_{j=1}^l \lambda_j^{v_n^{(j)}}).NEWLINE\]NEWLINE Let \(J\) be the ideal defined as \(J=\langle \tilde f: f\in I\rangle\). The tropical variety \(\pi^{-1}(\pi(T(I))\) is exactly the tropical variety \(T(J\cap K[x_1,\ldots,x_n])\). Many properties of the ideal \(I\) are carried by the ideal \(J\); see Lemma 3.3. For instance, if \(Y=\bigcap_{i=1}^{n-m} T(f_i)\), where \(f_i\in K[x_1,\ldots,x_n]\), is a transversal intersection then \(\tilde Y=\bigcap_{i=1}^{n-m} T(\tilde f_i)\) is transversal. Assume that \(\pi^{-1}(\pi(T(I)))\) is a tropical hypersurface \(T(f)\). Theorem \(4.2\) gives a characterization of the Newton polytope of \(f\) as affinely isomorphic to an explicit mixed fiber polytope. The authors study the subdivision of this Newton polytope, whose cells are described by mixed fiber polytopes; see Lemma \(4.4\) and Theorem \(4.5\). In the last section, the authors study the number of self-intersections of a tropical curve in \(\mathbb R^n\) under a rational projection to \(\mathbb R^2\).