Search

A $\mathbf{GL}$-variety is a (typically infinite dimensional) variety modeled on the polynomial representation theory of the general linear group. In previous work, we studied these varieties in characteristic 0. In this paper, we obtain results in positive characteristic: for example, we prove a version of Chevalley's theorem on constructible sets. We give an application of our theory to strength of polynomials., Comment: 36 pages

We prove that the infinite half-spin representations are topologically Noetherian with respect to the infinite spin group. As a consequence we obtain that half-spin varieties, which we introduce, are defined by the pullback of equations at a finite level. The main example for such varieties is the infinite isotropic Grassmannian in its spinor embedding, for which we explicitly determine its defining equations., Comment: 30 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 (the locus with "border rank" $\le r$) is an important problem. We make two contributions in this direction: we prove a de-bordering result, which bounds border rank as a function of rank; and we show that the limits required to realize a point of border rank $\le r$ do not become increasingly complicated as the dimension of the vector space increases. We prove both results for a fairly general class of ranks. We deduce our theorems on ranks from foundational results on $\mathbf{GL}$-varieties, which are infinite dimensional algebraic varieties on which the infinite general linear group acts. For example, an important result concerns the existence of curves on $\mathbf{GL}$-varieties., Comment: 25 pages

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

Much recent literature concerns finiteness properties of infinite-dimensional algebraic varieties equipped with an action of the infinite symmetric group, or of the infinite general linear group. In this paper, we study a common generalisation in which the product of both groups acts on infinite-dimensional spaces, and we show that these spaces are topologically Noetherian with respect to this action.

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., Comment: 46 pages

In a previous paper, the third author proved that finite-degree polynomial functors over infinite fields are topologically Noetherian. In this paper, we prove that the same holds for polynomial functors from free $R$-modules to finitely generated $R$-modules, for any commutative ring $R$ whose spectrum is Noetherian. As Erman-Sam-Snowden pointed out, when applying this with $R = \mathbb{Z}$ to direct sums of symmetric powers, one of their proofs of a conjecture by Stillman becomes characteristic-independent. Our paper advertises and further develops the beautiful but not so well-known machinery of polynomial laws. In particular, to any finitely generated R-module M we associate a topological space, which we show is Noetherian when $\operatorname{Spec}(R)$ is; this is the degree-zero case of our result on polynomial functors., Comment: 35 pages, 1 figure

In a recent paper, Drusvyatskiy, Lee, Ottaviani, and Thomas establish a "transfer principle" by means of which the Euclidean distance degree of an orthogonally-stable matrix variety can be computed from the Euclidean distance degree of its intersection with a linear subspace. We generalise this principle.

We prove that any finite-degree polynomial functor is topologically Noetherian. This theorem is motivated by the recent resolution of Stillman's conjecture and a recent Noetherianity proof for the space of cubics. Via work by Erman-Sam-Snowden, our theorem implies Stillman's conjecture and indeed boundedness of a wider class of invariants of ideals in polynomial rings with a fixed number of generators of prescribed degrees., Comment: Final version

We completely describe the higher secant dimensions of all connected homogeneous projective varieties of dimension at most 3, in all possible equivariant embeddings. In particular, we calculate these dimensions for all Segre-Veronese embeddings of P^1 * P^1, P^1 * P^1 * P^1, and P^2 * P^1, as well as for the variety F of incident point-line pairs in P^2. For P^2 * P^1 and F the results are new, while the proofs for the other two varieties are more compact than existing proofs. Our main tool is the second author's tropical approach to secant dimensions., Comment: 25 pages, many pictures

A vector space A of matrices is called rank-critical if any vector space that properly contains A has a strictly higher generic rank. I present a sufficient condition for A to be rank-critical, and apply this condition to prove that certain Lie algebra representations have rank-critical images. This contruction yields, for infinitely many n, an 8-dimensional space of n-times-n matrices that is maximal singular (= rank-critical of rank n-1), while--to the best of my knowledge--the minimal dimension of such a space was hitherto believed to grow with n. As another application, I prove that for any semisimple Lie algebra g, the space ad(g) is a rank-critical subspace of End(g)., Comment: 11 pages in latex

We try to write (generic) elements of classical simple Lie algebras as sums of as few elements of the orbit C of long root vectors as possible. If the Lie algebra in question is sl_n or sp_n, then C consists of all rank 1 matrices in the Lie algebra, and an element of rank k is the sum of k elements of C. If, on the other hand, the Lie algebra is o_n, then C consists of all rank 2 matrices with square zero, and the situation is much more complicated. We explicitly describe, in this case as well, the closure of the set of all sums of k elements of C, also known as the (k-1)st secant variety of C., Comment: 17 pages