On connectedness of sets in the real spectra of polynomial rings

DOI10.1007/S00229-008-0244-1MaRDI QIDQ1014805zbMATH OpenOpenAlexFDO

Authors J. Madden, F. Lucas, D. Schaub, M. Spivakovsky

Publication date 29 April 2009

Published in Manuscripta Mathematica (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://arxiv.org/abs/math/0601671

zbMATH Keywords

blowing-up piecewise polynomial functions polynomial ring real closed field real spectrum

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Real algebra (13J30) Semialgebraic sets and related spaces (14P10)

Abstract: Let R be a real closed field. The Pierce-Birkhoff conjecture says that any piecewise polynomial function f on R^n can be obtained from the polynomial ring R[x_1,...,x_n] by iterating the operations of maximum and minimum. The purpose of this paper is twofold. First, we state a new conjecture, called the Connectedness conjecture, which asserts the existence of connected sets in the real spectrum of R[x_1,...,x_n] satisfying certain conditions. We prove that the Connectedness conjecture implies the Pierce-Birkhoff conjecture. Secondly, we construct a class of connected sets in the real spectrum which, though not in itself enough for the proof of the Pierce-Birkhoff conjecture, is the first and simplest example of the sort of connected sets we really need, and which constitutes a crucial step on the way to a proof of the Pierce-Birkhoff conjecture in dimension greater than 2, to appear in a subsequent paper.

Review text

The Pierce-Birkhoff conjecture is a long standing open problem in real algebra. It says that any continuous piecewise polynomial function on \(\mathbb{R}^n\) can be obtained from polynomial functions by the iterated formation of maxima and minima of functions. The question can be asked more generally for continuous piecewise polynomial functions over any real closed field \(R\), or even over any ordered field. For real closed fields the conjecture is known to be true with \(n=1\) and \(n=2\). But for \(n\geq 3\) it is open, despite serious efforts by various researchers. Conceivably, the real spectrum provides a tool for deciding the conjecture. Madden introduced the notion of the separating ideal of two points of the real spectrum \textit{J. J. Madden} [Arch. Math. 53, No. 6, 565--570 (1989; Zbl 0691.14012)]. He showed that the Pierce-Birkhoff conjecture is equivalent to a conjecture about sepearating ideals, thus putting the Pierce-Birkhoff problem in a local form. So far this approach has not led to a solution, either. The authors now introduce a connectedness conjecture. They show that the connectedness conjecture implies the Pierce-Birkhoff conjecture. The connectedness conjecture is concerned with the question whether certain subsets of the real spectrum of a polynomial ring \(R[X_1,\dots,X_n]\) are topologically connected. The authors do not decide the connectedness conjecture, but take first steps in this direction by proving special cases of the conjecture.

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