The Algebraic Boundary of Graph Elliptopes

Abstract

This paper studies the algebraic boundary of the elliptope $\mathcal{E}(G)$ of a graph $G$. In particular, we completely characterize the algebraic boundary of $\mathcal{E}(G)$ when $G$ is cycle completable. In this case, the boundary is a union of determinantal hypersurfaces and Lissajous varieties, i.e., images of rational linear subspaces under the coordinatewise cosine map. As an application, we show that the algebraic boundary of $\mathcal{E}(G)$ is disjoint from its interior precisely when $\mathcal{E}(G)$ is a spectrahedron or, equivalently, when $G$ is a chordal graph. A central ingredient for the defining equation of the boundary hypersurface is the cycle polynomial, which captures the algebraic boundary of the elliptope $\mathcal{E}(C_n)$ of the $n$-th cycle graph $C_n$. We show that the cycle polynomial of $C_n$ is the resultant of two smaller cycle polynomials. Via this result, Sylvester's determinantal formula offers an inductive method for computing the cycle polynomial which mirrors a geometric property of metric polytopes. We also determine the degree of the homogeneous cycle polynomial, settling an open question of Sturmfels and Uhler (2010).