scientific article; zbMATH DE number 1329663

This paper is a survey on the theory of orderings of higher level and related topics. It starts with Hilbert's 17th problem as a motivation and gives a new formulation for it, namely it introduces: -- the condition \(P_{1,d}\) for all \(f\) polynomial of \(K[X_1,\dots, x_d]\) (\(C\) being a fixed algebraic closure of \(K\)): \[ f\in \sum K(X_1,\dots, X_d)^2 \iff \forall x\in \mathbb{A}^d(C), \quad f(x)\in \sum K(x)^2; \] -- the condition \(Q_{1,d}\) for all \(f\) polynomial of \(K[X_1,\dots, X_d]\): \[ f\in \sum K(X_1,\dots, X_d)^2 \iff \forall x\in \mathbb{A}^d(K), \quad f(x)\in \sum K^2. \] The fact that \(Q_{1,d}\) holds for \(K= \mathbb{Q}\) is exactly the positive answer to the classical 17th Hilbert's problem. Before asking similar questions for level \(n\) the paper displays basic facts and striking results on sums of \(2n\)-powers in a field coming from various authors. Then it presents the analogue of Artin-Schreier theory for orderings of higher level, and explains, as elementary as possible, how one can obtain closures for such orderings under algebraic extensions. It gives an example and says some words on the model theory of these generalized real closed fields. Finally all the ingredients are used to present the 17th Hilbert's problem at level \(n\) [studied by the authors et al. in J. Reine Angew. Math. 450, 139-157 (1994; Zbl 0807.14045)] in searching when some condition hold: -- the condition \(P_{n,d}\) for all \(f\) polynomial of \(K[X_1,\dots, X_d]\) (\(C\) being a fixed algebraic closure of \(K\)): \[ f\in \sum K(X_1,\dots, X_d)^{2n} \iff \forall x\in \mathbb{A}^d(C), \quad f(x)\in \sum K(x)^{2n}; \] -- the condition \(Q_{n,d}\) for all \(f\) polynomial of \(K[X_1,\dots, X_d]\): \[ f\in \sum K(X_1,\dots, X_d)^{2n} \iff \forall x\in \mathbb{A}^d(K), \quad f(x)\in \sum K^{2n}. \] The present paper gives only the results and proofs in the special case where the irreducible variety is replaced by the affine space \(\mathbb{A}^d\). Finally, an expanded bibliography is given for readers whose interest has been raised by this nice survey. For the entire collection see [Zbl 0910.00039].

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