Determinantal representation and subschemes of general plane curves (Q665924)

A \(2\times 2\) matrix of integers is called \textit{homogeneous} if the sums of the elements on the diagonals are equal. A square matrix of integers is called \textit{homogeneous} if all \(2\times 2\) submatrices are. Let \(M=(m_{ij})\) be a square homogeneous matrix of integers and suppose that the entries are non-increasing going leftward and downward. In this paper one characterizes those such matrices which have the property that a general form of degree \(d\) in \(x_0, x_1, x_2\) can be written as a determinant of a matrix of forms \(f_{ij}\) with \(\deg(f_{ij})=m_{ij}\), with the convention \(f_{ij}=0\) when \(m_{ij} <0\). One applies this to characterize the \((n-1)\times n\) matrices of integers which can be the degree Hilbert-Burch matrix of a zero-dimensional subscheme of the plane.