Congruence of multilinear forms (Q855566)

In this article the authors study, on finite dimensional spaces \(U\) and \(V\) over a field \(K\) of characteristic zero, some properties of multilinear forms which extend the corresponding results known for bilinear forms on real and complex spaces. In the first half of the paper the concepts of congruence and symmetric equivalence of \(n\)-linear forms are discussed. Two multilinear forms \(F\colon U\times\dots\times U\to K\) and \(G\colon V\times\dots\times V\to K\) are said to be symmetrically equivalent if there exist isomorphisms \(\varphi_1,\dots,\varphi_n\colon U\to V\) such that \(F(u_1, \dots, u_n)= G(\varphi_{\sigma(1)}u_1,\dots,\varphi_{\sigma(n)}u_n)\) for all \(u_1, \dots, u_n\in U\) and any permutation \(\sigma\) on \(\{1,\dots,n\}\). The forms are said to be congruent if all the isomorphisms are equal. The authors prove, for the complex case, that symmetric equivalence implies congruence. To obtain a similar result for the real case, the authors study direct compositions of multilinear forms and devote the second half of the article to this matter. It is known that every bilinear form over \(\mathbb R\) or \(\mathbb C\) decomposes into a direct sum of indecomposable forms uniquely up to congruence of summands. The authors prove, over any field \(K\) of characteristic zero, that whenever \(n\geq 3\): (a) If \(F=F'\oplus F_0\) with \(F'\) having nonzero summands and if \(U=U'\oplus U_0\) is the corresponding decomposition of \(U\), then \(U_0\) is uniquely determined by \(F\) and \(F'\) is determined up to congruence. (b) If \(F\) has nonzero summands, with \(F=F_1\oplus \cdots \oplus F_s\) its decomposition into a direct sum of indecomposable forms and \(U=U_1\oplus\cdots\oplus U_s\) is the corresponding decomposition of \(U\), then \(U_1,\dots, U_s\) are determined by \(F\) uniquely up to permutations. Also, the authors show an example of a bilinear form for which statement (b) does not hold.