Determinantal representations of singular hypersurfaces in \(\mathbb P^n\) (Q456773)

Let \(X = \{\det (M)\}\subset \mathbb {P}^n\) be a hypersurface, where \(M\) is a square-matrix of linear forms. The classical and modern works on the topic are covered in chapter 4 of [\textit{I. Dolgachev}, Classical algebraic geometry. A modern view. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. (2012; Zbl 1252.14001)]. A key tool are the kernel sheaves. In the paper under review the hypersurface is reducible and with multiple components. Assume that \(X\) decomposes as \(X=X_1\cup X_2\) with \(X_1\) and \(X_2\) have no common component. They prove that \(M\) can be posed in block diagonal (resp. block upper triangular) form with determinants the equations of \(X_1\) and \(X_2\) if and only if \(M\) is has the same local form at each \(P\in X_1\cap X_2\). The local case was deeply studied in their preprint [\textit{D. Kerner} and \textit{V. Vinnikov}, On the decomposability of local determinantal representations of hypersurfaces, \url{arXiv:1009.2517}]. Over \(\mathbb {R}\) and \(\mathbb {C}\) they cover the determinants of symmetric or self-adjoint matrices. They apply the symmetric case to hyperbolic polynomials. As a preliminary they give a very nice and useful overview of sheaves, ranks and so on om multiple hypersurfaces.