The Canny-Emiris conjecture for the sparse resultant (Q6101263)

Let \(M\simeq \mathbb{Z}^n\) be a lattice of rank \(n\) and \(\mathcal{A}_i \subset M\) a nonempty finite subset for \(i=0,\ldots ,n\). Let \(\mathrm{Res}_\mathcal{A}\) be the sparse resultant associated with this family of supports. The first contribution of this paper is that for a vector \(\omega \in \mathbb{R}^{n+1}\), \(\mathrm{init}_{\omega}(\mathrm{Res}_\mathcal{A})\) can be factorized as the product of some sparse resultants. Here the initial stands for the sum of the monomial terms whose exponents have minimal weight with respect to \(\omega\). This result generalizes a previous one by \textit{B. Sturmfels} [J. Algebr. Comb. 3, No. 2, 207--236 (1994; Zbl 0798.05074)]. Note that this representation facilitates the computation not only of the homogeneities and degrees of \(\mathrm{Res}_\mathcal{A}\) but also its evaluation at systems of Laurent polynomials with smaller supports. Moreover, the authors present similar result for some of the initial parts of the principal minors of the Sylvester-type square matrix associated with a mixed subdivision of a polytope. Finally, it is shown that these arguments proves that under suitable hypothesis, the sparse resultant can be computed as the quotient of the determinant of a matrix by one of its principal minors; confirming a conjecture due [\textit{J. F. Canny} and \textit{I. Z. Emiris}, J. ACM 47, No. 3, 417--451 (2000; Zbl 1094.65508)] stated in 2000.