Isosingular sets and deflation (Q358629)

Deflation is an important method of regularizing nonreduced solution sets of systems of polynomials over the complex numbers so that, for example, Newton's method can be applied to approximate solutions to arbitrary accuracy. The current article defines three new, equivalent methods of deflation, each having specific strengths and weaknesses. In particular, the method based on determinants (as in the Thom-Boardman singularity theory) avoids introducing extra variables, so that the deflated algebraic set is the same as the original. A second method, which does employ additional variables, reduces the number of polynomials and does not increase degrees, thus making it useful for numerical work. The third method more closely resembles previous definitions of deflation. All three have the advantage of building a complete basis for the null space of \(Jf(x)\) (where \(f: \mathbb{C}^N \rightarrow \mathbb{C}^n\) is a polynomial system, and \(J\) is the Jacobian), as opposed to just the one vector in the null space that previous definitions produced. Additionally, the approach taken leads to a finite stratification of the system's singularities such that each solution is a smooth point on a unique isosingular subset, allowing Newton's method to be applied to non-generic, as well as generic, solutions. Deflation is defined in terms of the deflation operator, the repeated application of which is called a deflation sequence. The authors prove that ultimately this sequence stabilizes, and they give both numeric and symbolic methods for computing deflation sequences, as well as for determining when they have stabilized. The article defines an isosingular set as the (nonempty, irreducible) closure of a set of points in an algebraic set with the same deflation sequence. The deflation sequence stabilizes to the dimension of the set. The number of such sets for a given polynomial system is shown to be finite, and an algorithm is given to compute all of them. It is shown that every isosingular set is generically isomorphic to an irreducible and generically reduced component of a polynomial system constructed using deflation. There are several examples within the paper. It is shown that the isosingular sets of the Whitney umbrella are the irreducible surface, the ``handle'', and the origin. Additionally, a detailed description of the computation of the isosingular sets of a ``foldable Stewart-Gough platform'', an example arising from kinematics, is provided.