Sparse systems with high local multiplicity (Q6972354)

The main result of the present paper is a new upper bound for the multiplicity of a root of a complex Laurent polynomial system in terms of the number of monomials involved in the equations. The problem of estimating the local multiplicity of a root turns out to be a kind of dual to the problem of estimating the total number of isolated solutions of the system in the complex algebraic torus \((\mathbb{C}^*)^n\), for which there is a well-known Bernstein-Kushnirenko-Khovanskii bound in terms of the normalized volume of the convex hull of the support of the equations.\N\NTo state the main result more precisely, let \(\mathcal{A}\subset\mathbb{Z}^n\) be a finite subset of cardinality \(n+1+m\), \(m\geq 1\). Assume that the convex hull of \(\mathcal{A}\) has full dimension \(n\) in \(\mathbb{R}^n\). The number \(n\) is referred to as \textit{dimension}, and \(m\) as \textit{codimension} of \(\mathcal{A}\). Now consider a system of Laurent polynomial equations with complex coefficients supported on \(\mathcal{A}\) (that is, the multiexponents of all the monomials involved in the system with non-zero coefficients are elements of \(\mathcal{A}\)), and let \(q\in(\mathbb{C}^*)^n\) be an isolated solution of it. Then, under two additional technical conditions, the following bound \N\[\N\mu\leq(n+m)^n\N\]\Nhold, where \(\mu\) is the multiplicity of \(q\). This new bound is much better than the previously known bound \N\[\N\mu\leq 2^{\binom{N}{2}} (n+1)^{N},\N\]\Nwhere \(N=n+1+m\), form [\textit{A. Gabrielov}, Sel. Math., New Ser. 1, No. 1, 113--127 (1995; Zbl 0889.32005)]. The two technical conditions are of the following sort. A sequence of simple transformations reduces the initial system of Laurent polynomials to a system of ordinary polynomials with a common root at \(0\) which correspond to the initial solution \(q\). Now, this new polynomial system must be \textit{convenient} (which means that its support contains at least one point on each of the coordinate axes) and \textit{non-degenerate} (this condition, referred to also sometimes as \textit{Newton non-degenericity}, is a standard genericity assumption that simplifies the study of subvarieties of toric varieties).\N\NAn interesting new contribution of the paper is the introduction of a new kind of duality (called \textit{H-duality} by the authors) for polynomial systems. This duality interchanges the roles of the matrix of exponents and the matrix of coefficients of the system. The authors study thoroughly the relations between local multiplicities of solutions of the initial system, its Gale dual, and its H-dual systems. The authors deal much with the special case of low codimension, the question when their bounds are sharp, how they can be attained on systems with integral coefficients, and provide an example of explicit system with high local multiplicity. Several open questions are posed for specialists in the field.