Multisymmetric polynomials in dimension three (Q713406)

Let \(S_n\) denote the symmetric group on \(n\) symbols and \(V\) the natural permutation module with dimension \(n\). Then for any integer \(m\), \(S_n\) acts on \(V^{\oplus m}\) (the direct sum of \(m\) copies of \(V\)) by simultaneous permutation. The ring of multisymmetric polynomials is the ring of vector invariants \(R_{n,m}:= \mathbb{C}[V^{\oplus m}]^{S_n}\). For arbitrary \(m\) and \(n\), it is known that the polarisations of elementary symmetric polynomials or power sums give a minimal system of \(\mathbb{C}\)-algebra generators for \(R_{n,m}\), but the relations between these are not so well understood. There are two main results in this article. Firstly, an explicit relation of degree \(2n\), which is never contained in the ideal of relations generated by lower degree elements, is described. Thus, the ideal of relations cannot be generated in degree less than \(2n\). In the special case \(n=3\), the authors show that (for \(m \geq 3\)) the polarisations of of three relations minimally generate the ideal of relations. These are the relation of degree \(2n = 6\) given above, along with a relation of degree 5 and a relation of degree 6, all explicitly stated. For \(m=2\) the second two are sufficient. The main tool used here is the representation theory of \(\mathrm{GL}_m(\mathbb{C})\). There is an action of \(\mathrm{GL}_n(\mathbb{C})\) on \(V^{\oplus m}\) which commutes with the action of \(S_n\), and so \(R_{n,m}\) can be decomposed into irreducible \(\mathrm{GL}_m(\mathbb{C})\)-modules. The authors point out a connection between indecomposable relations and highest weight vectors of \(\mathrm{GL}_m(\mathbb{C})\)-modules. In the case \(n=3\), classical results are used to establish that no indecomposable relations connected to modules associated with partitions with more than four parts can occur, thereby reducing the theorem to the cases \(m=2,3,4\). These cases are then worked out in detail.