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We show that if X_n is a variety of cxn-matrices that is stable under the group Sym([n]) of column permutations and if forgetting the last column maps X_n into X_{n-1}, then the number of Sym([n])-orbits on irreducible components of X_n is a quasipolynomial in n for all sufficiently large n. To this end, we introduce the category of affine FI^op-schemes of width one, review existing literature on such schemes, and establish several new structural results about them. In particular, we show that under a shift and a localisation, any width-one FI^op-scheme becomes of product form, where X_n=Y^n for some scheme Y in affine c-space. Furthermore, to any FI^op-scheme of width one we associate a component functor from the category FI of finite sets with injections to the category PF of finite sets with partially defined maps. We present a combinatorial model for these functors and use this model to prove that Sym([n])-orbits of components of X_n, for all n, correspond bijectively to orbits of a groupoid acting on the integral points in certain rational polyhedral cones. Using the orbit-counting lemma for groupoids and theorems on quasipolynomiality of lattice point counts, this yields our Main Theorem., final version, 40 pages, added several examples and clarifications and corrected typos---with many thanks to a referee!

Given a complex vector subspace $V$ of $\mathbb{C}^n$, the dimension of the amoeba of $V \cap (\mathbb{C}^*)^n$ depends only on the matroid that $V$ defines on the ground set $\{1,\ldots,n\}$. Here we prove that this dimension is given by the minimum of a certain function over all partitions of the ground set, as previously conjectured by Rau. We also prove that this formula can be evaluated in polynomial time.

We prove that for every positive integer $d \ge 2$ there exist polynomial functions $F_d, G_d: \mathbb{N} \to \mathbb{N}$ such that for each positive integer $r$, every order-$d$ tensor $T$ over an arbitrary field and with partition rank at least $G_d(r)$ contains a $F_d(r) \times \cdots \times F_d(r)$ subtensor with partition rank at least $r$. We then deduce analogous results on the Schmidt rank of polynomials in zero or high characteristic., Comment: 10 pages

There are many notions of rank in multilinear algebra: tensor rank, partition rank, slice rank, and strength (or Schmidt rank) are a few examples. Typically the rank $\le r$ locus is not Zariski closed, and understanding the closure is an important problem. Our main theorem implies that for many notions of rank, the limits required to realize points in the closure do not become more complicated as the dimensions of the vector spaces increase. We phrase our results in the language of $\mathbf{GL}$-varieties, which are infinite dimensional algebraic varieties on which the infinite general linear group acts. In this guise, our main theorem states that for a map of $\mathbf{GL}$-varieties, points in the image closure can be realized as limits of 1-parameter families, just as in classical algebraic geometry., Comment: 22 pages

The 3-dimensional (3D) structure of the genome is of significant importance for many cellular processes. In this paper, we study the problem of reconstructing the 3D structure of chromosomes from Hi-C data of diploid organisms, which poses additional challenges compared to the better-studied haploid setting. With the help of techniques from algebraic geometry, we prove that a small amount of phased data is sufficient to ensure finite identifiability, both for noiseless and noisy data. In the light of these results, we propose a new 3D reconstruction method based on semidefinite programming, paired with numerical algebraic geometry and local optimization. The performance of this method is tested on several simulated datasets under different noise levels and with different amounts of phased data. We also apply it to a real dataset from mouse X chromosomes, and we are then able to recover previously known structural features., Comment: 19 + 3 pages, 5 + 3 figures

Restriction is a natural quasi-order on $d$-way tensors. We establish a remarkable aspect of this quasi-order in the case of tensors over a fixed finite field -- namely, that it is a well-quasi-order: it admits no infinite antichains and no infinite strictly decreasing sequences. This result, reminiscent of the graph minor theorem, has important consequences for an arbitrary restriction-closed tensor property $X$. For instance, $X$ admits a characterisation by finitely many forbidden restrictions and can be tested by looking at subtensors of a fixed size. Our proof involves an induction over polynomial generic representations, establishes a generalisation of the tensor restriction theorem to other such representations (e.g. homogeneous polynomials of a fixed degree), and also describes the coarse structure of any restriction-closed property., 31 pages

In earlier work, the second author showed that a closed subset of a polynomial functor can always be defined by finitely many polynomial equations. In follow-up work on $\operatorname{GL}\nolimits_{\infty}$-varieties, Bik-Draisma-Eggermont-Snowden showed, among other things, that in characteristic zero every such closed subset is the image of a morphism whose domain is the product of a finite-dimensional affine variety and a polynomial functor. In this paper, we show that both results can be made algorithmic: there exists an algorithm $\mathbf{implicitise}$ that takes as input a morphism into a polynomial functor and outputs finitely many equations defining the closure of the image; and an algorithm $\mathbf{parameterise}$ that takes as input a finite set of equations defining a closed subset of a polynomial functor and outputs a morphism whose image is that closed subset., 22 pages

In connection with recent work on gaps in the asymptotic subranks of complex tensors the question arose whether the number of nonnegative real numbers that arise as the asymptotic subrank of some complex tensor is countable. In this short note we settle this question in the affirmative, for all tensor invariants that are algebraic in the sense that they are invariant under field automorphisms of the complex numbers.

Let $X$ be an affine scheme of $k \times \mathbb{N}$-matrices and $Y$ be an affine scheme of $\mathbb{N} \times \cdots \times \mathbb{N}$-dimensional tensors. The group Sym$(\mathbb{N})$ acts naturally on both $X$ and $Y$ and on their coordinate rings. We show that the Zariski closure of the image of a Sym$(\mathbb{N})$-equivariant morphism of schemes from $X$ to $Y$ is defined by finitely many Sym$(\mathbb{N})$-orbits in the coordinate ring of $Y$. Moreover, we prove that the closure of the image of this map is Sym$(\mathbb{N})$-Noetherian, that is, every descending chain of Sym$(\mathbb{N})$-stable closed subsets stabilizes.

We define a GL-variety to be a (typically infinite dimensional) algebraic variety equipped with an action of the infinite general linear group under which the coordinate ring forms a polynomial representation. Such varieties have been used to study asymptotic properties of invariants like strength and tensor rank, and played a key role in two recent proofs of Stillman's conjecture. We initiate a systematic study of GL-varieties, and establish a number of foundational results about them. For example, we prove a version of Chevalley's theorem on constructible sets in this setting., 46 pages

Elina Robeva discovered quadratic equations satisfied by orthogonally decomposable ("odeco") tensors. Boralevi-Draisma-Horobe\c{t}-Robeva then proved that, over the real numbers, these equations characterise odeco tensors. This raises the question to what extent they also characterise the Zariski-closure of the set of odeco tensors over the complex numbers. In the current paper we restrict ourselves to symmetric tensors of order three, i.e., of format $n \times n \times n$. By providing an explicit counterexample to one of Robeva's conjectures, we show that for $n \geq 12$, these equations do not suffice. Furthermore, in the open subset where the linear span of the slices of the tensor contains an invertible matrix, we show that Robeva's equations cut out the limits of odeco tensors for dimension $n \leq 13$, and not for $n \geq 14$ on. To this end, we show that Robeva's equations essentially capture the Gorenstein locus in the Hilbert scheme of $n$ points and we use work by Casnati-Jelisiejew-Notari on the (ir)reducibility of this locus., Comment: 17 pages; comments welcome

Every Grassmannian, in its Pl��cker embedding, is defined by quadratic polynomials. We prove a vast, qualitative, generalisation of this fact to what we call Pl��cker varieties. A Pl��cker variety is in fact a family of varieties in exterior powers of vector spaces that, like the Grassmannian, is functorial in the vector space and behaves well under duals. A special case of our result says that for each fixed natural number k, the k-th secant variety of any Pl��cker-embedded Grassmannian is defined in bounded degree independent of the Grassmannian. Our approach is to take the limit of a Pl��cker variety in the dual of a highly symmetric space known as the infinite wedge, and to prove that up to symmetry the limit is defined by finitely many polynomial equations. For this we prove the auxilliary result that for every natural number p the space of p-tuples of infinite-by-infinite matrices is Noetherian modulo row and column operations. Our results have algorithmic counterparts: every bounded Pl��cker variety has a polynomial-time membership test, and the same holds for Zariski-closed, basis-independent properties of p-tuples of matrices., 25 pages, 4 figures

These lecture notes for the 2013 CIME/CIRM summer school Combinatorial Algebraic Geometry deal with manifestly infinite-dimensional algebraic varieties with large symmetry groups. So large, in fact, that subvarieties stable under those symmetry groups are defined by finitely many orbits of equations---whence the title Noetherianity up to symmetry. It is not the purpose of these notes to give a systematic, exhaustive treatment of such varieties, but rather to discuss a few "personal favourites": exciting examples drawn from applications in algebraic statistics and multilinear algebra. My hope is that these notes will attract other mathematicians to this vibrant area at the crossroads of combinatorics, commutative algebra, algebraic geometry, statistics, and other applications., Comment: To appear in Springer's LNM C.I.M.E. series; several typos fixed

We introduce tropically unirational varieties, which are subvarieties of tori that admit dominant rational maps whose tropicalisation is surjective. The central (and unresolved) question is whether all unirational varieties are tropically unirational. We present several techniques for proving tropical unirationality, along with various examples., Comment: Submitted to Proceedings of the CIEM Workshop on Tropical Geometry

For any finite graph Gamma and any field K of characteristic unequal to 2 we construct an algebraic variety X over K whose K-points parameterise K-Lie algebras generated by extremal elements, corresponding to the vertices of the graph, with prescribed commutation relations, corresponding to the non-edges. After that, we study the case where Gamma is a connected, simply laced Dynkin diagram of finite or affine type. We prove that X is then an affine space, and that all points in an open dense subset of X parameterise Lie algebras isomorphic to a single fixed Lie algebra. If Gamma is of affine type, then this fixed Lie algebra is the split finite-dimensional simple Lie algebra corresponding to the associated finite-type Dynkin diagram. This gives a new construction of these Lie algebras, in which they come together with interesting degenerations, corresponding to points outside the open dense subset. Our results may prove useful for recognising these Lie algebras., Comment: We made many corrections suggested by a referee, and extended our results to positive characteristic greater than 2