The discriminant of a system of equations

DOI10.1016/J.AIM.2013.06.027zbMATH Open1291.13044arXiv1110.4060OpenAlexW2010115411MaRDI QIDQ2437486FDOQ2437486

Alexander Esterov

Publication date: 3 March 2014

Published in: Advances in Mathematics (Search for Journal in Brave)

Abstract: What polynomial in the coefficients of a system of algebraic equations should be called its discriminant? We prove a package of facts that provide a possible answer. Let us call a system typical, if the homeomorphic type of its set of solutions does not change as we perturb its (non-zero) coefficients. The set of all atypical systems turns out to be a hypersurface in the space of all systems of k equations in n variables, whose monomials are contained in k given finite sets. This hypersurface B contains all systems that have a singular solution, this stratum is conventionally called the discriminant, and the codimension of its components has not been fully understood yet (e.g. dual defect toric varieties are not classified), so the purity of dimension of B looks somewhat surprising. We deduce it from a similar tropical purity fact. A generic system of equations in a component B_i of the hypersurface B differs from a typical system by the Euler characteristic of its set of solutions. Regarding the difference of these Euler characteristics as the multiplicity of B_i, we turn B into an effective divisor, whose equation we call the Euler discriminant by the following reasons. Firstly, it vanishes exactly at those systems that have a singular solution (possibly at infinity). Secondly, despite its topological definition, there is a simple linear-algebraic formula for it, and a positive formula for its Newton polytope. Thirdly, it interpolates many classical objects (sparse resultant, A-determinant, discriminant of deformation) and inherits many of their nice properties. This allows to specialize our results to generic polynomial maps: the bifurcation set of a dominant polynomial map, whose components are generic linear combinations of finitely many monomials, is always a hypersurface, and a generic atypical fiber of such a map differs from a typical one by its Euler characteristic.

Full work available at URL: https://arxiv.org/abs/1110.4060

Recommendations

• A discriminant of the determinability for the discrete linear system
• The discriminant of a trinomial
• scientific article; zbMATH DE number 1522537
• The (matrix) discriminant as a determinant
• A system of quadratic diophantine equations
• On the discriminant of Grunert's system of algebraic equations and related topics
• Solving discriminant form equations via unit equations

zbMATH Keywords

discriminantbifurcation settopology of polynomial mapping

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Solving polynomial systems; resultants (13P15)

Cites Work

• Polyedres de Newton et nombres de Milnor
• Tropical discriminants
• Title not available (Why is that?)
• THE GEOMETRY OF TORIC VARIETIES
• Elimination theory for tropical varieties
• Ehresmann fibrations and Palais-Smale conditions for morphisms of Finsler manifolds
• Discriminants and nonnegative polynomials
• Testing sets for properness of polynomial mappings
• The set of points at which a polynomial map is not proper
• Quantitative generalized Bertini-Sard theorem for smooth affine varieties
• On the Newton polytope of the resultant
• Mixed discriminants
• Singularities at infinity and motivic integration
• Title not available (Why is that?)
• Compactifications of subvarieties of tori
• Fiber polytopes
• Note on estimation of the number of the critical values at infinity
• Intersection theory on toric varieties
• Newton polyhedra of discriminants of projections
• c-fans and Newton polyhedra of algebraic varieties
• Restriction of \(A\)-discriminants and dual defect toric varieties
• Title not available (Why is that?)
• PROJECTIVE DUALITY OF TORIC MANIFOLDS AND DEFECT POLYTOPES
• A geometric degree formula for \(A\)-discriminants and Euler obstructions of toric varieties
• Homogeneity degrees of the set of singular complete intersections
• Title not available (Why is that?)
• On the generalized critical values of a polynomial mapping
• Semialgebraic Sard theorem for generalized critical values.
• Stratifications de Whitney et théorème de Bertini-Sard
• Elimination theory and Newton polytopes
• Mixed fibre polytopes
• Determinantal singularities and Newton polyhedra
• Sur la topologie des polynômes complexes. (Topology of complex polynomials)
• Milnor numbers and the topology of polynomial hypersurfaces
• On the bifurcation set of a polynomial function and Newton boundary
• On the bifurcation set of a polynomial function and Newton boundary. II
• Singularities at infinity and their vanishing cycles
• Euler characteristic of the bifurcation set for a polynomial of degree 2
• Title not available (Why is that?)
• Newton polygons and families of polynomials
• Title not available (Why is that?)
• On asymptotic critical values of a complex polynomial
• Milnor number at infinity, topology and Newton boundary of a polynomial function
• On the topology of a generic fibre of a polynomial function
• On the existence of mixed fiber bodies
• Multiplicities of degenerations of matrices and mixed volumes of Cayley polyhedra
• ON THE TOPOLOGY OF POLYNOMIAL MAPPINGS FROM ℂⁿ TO ℂ^n-1
• Indices of 1-forms, intersection indices, and Newton polyhedra
• On bifurcation points of a complex polynomial
• Estimation of the number of the critical values at infinity of a polynomial function \(f:\mathbf C^ 2 \to \mathbf C\)
• On the topology of polynomial functions on algebraic surfaces in \(\mathbb C^n\)
• Title not available (Why is that?)
• On the Milnor Fiber of a Quasi-ordinary Surface Singularity

Cited In (12)

• Galois theory for general systems of polynomial equations
• Rational expressions for multiple roots of algebraic equations
• Characteristic classes of affine varieties and Plücker formulas for affine morphisms
• Discrete Invariants of Generically Inconsistent Systems of Laurent Polynomials
• Principal Landau determinants
• A note on polynomial maps having fibers of maximal dimension
• Euler characteristic of the bifurcation set for a polynomial of degree 2
• Matrix formulæ for resultants and discriminants of bivariate tensor-product polynomials
• Multivariate Abel-Ruffini
• Counting isolated points outside the image of a polynomial map
• Sparse polynomial equations and other enumerative problems whose Galois groups are wreath products
• Computing the non-properness set of real polynomial maps in the plane

This page was built for publication: The discriminant of a system of equations

Report a bug (only for logged in users!)Click here to report a bug for this page (MaRDI item Q2437486)