arXiv subjects
Publications and source records attributed to Frederic Bihan.
We give a bound for the number of real solutions to systems of n polynomials in n variables, where the monomials appearing in different polynomials are distinct. This bound is smaller than the fewnomial bound if this structure of the polynomials is not taken into account.
We use stratified Morse theory for a manifold with corners to give a new bound for the sum of the Betti numbers of a hypersurface in R^n_> defined by a polynomial with n+l+1 terms.
We show that detecting real roots for honestly n-variate (n+2)-nomials (with integer exponents and coefficients) can be done in time polynomial in the sparse encoding for any fixed n. The best previous complexity bounds were exponential in the sparse encoding, even for n fixed. We then give a characterization of those functions k(n) such that the complexity of detecting real roots for n-variate (n+k(n))-nomials transitions from P to NP-hardness as n tends to infinity. Our proofs follow in large part from a new complexity threshold for deciding the vanishing of A-discriminants of n-variate (n+k(n))-nomials. Diophantine approximation, through linear forms in logarithms, also arises as a key tool.
We define nondegenerate tropical complete intersections imitating the corresponding definition in complex algebraic geometry. As in the complex situation, all nonzero intersection multiplicity numbers between tropical hypersurfaces defining a nondegenerate tropical complete intersection are equal to 1. The intersection multiplicity numbers we use are sums of mixed volumes of polytopes which are dual to cells of the tropical hypersurfaces. We show that the Euler characteristic of a real nondegenerate tropical complete intersection depends only on the Newton polytopes of the tropical polynomials which define the intersection. Basically, it is equal to the usual signature of a complex complete intersection with same Newton polytopes, when this signature is defined. The proof reduces to the toric hypersurface case, and uses the notion of $E$-polynomials of complex varieties.
We show the existence of systems of n polynomial equations in n variables, with a total of n+k+1 distinct monomial terms, possessing [n/k+1]^k nondegenerate positive solutions. (Here, [x] is the integer part of a positive number x.) This shows that the recent upper bound of (e^2+3)/4 2^{\binom{k}{2}} n^k for the number of nondegenerate positive solutions is asymptotically sharp for fixed k and large n. We also adapt a method of Perrucci to show that there are fewer than (e^2+3)/4 2^{\binom{k}{2}} 2^n n^k connected components in a smooth hypersurface in the positive orthant of R^n defined by a polynomial with n+k+1 monomials. Our results hold for polynomials with real exponents.
We show that there are fewer than (e^2+3) 2^(k choose 2) n^k/4 non-degenerate positive solutions to a fewnomial system consisting of n polynomials in n variables having a total of n+k+1 distinct monomials. This is significantly smaller than Khovanskii's fewnomial bound of 2^(n+k choose 2)(n+1)^(n+k). We reduce the original system to a system of k equations in k variables which depends upon the vector configuration Gale dual to the exponents of the monomials in the original system. We then bound the number of solutions to this Gale system. We adapt these methods to show that a hypersurface in the positive orthant of R^n defined by a polynomial with n+k+1 monomials has at most C(k)n^(k-1) compact connected components. Our results hold for polynomials with real exponents.
Fewnomial theory began with explicit bounds -- solely in terms of the number of variables and monomial terms -- on the number of real roots of systems of polynomial equations. Here we take the next logical step of investigating the corresponding existence problem: Let FEAS_R denote the problem of deciding whether a given system of multivariate polynomial equations with integer coefficients has a real root or not. We describe a phase-transition for when m is large enough to make FEAS_R be NP-hard, when restricted to inputs consisting of a single n-variate polynomial with exactly m monomial terms: polynomial-time for m<=n+2 (for any fixed n) and NP-hardness for m<=n+n^{epsilon} (for n varying and any fixed epsilon>0). Because of important connections between FEAS_R and A-discriminants, we then study some new families of A-discriminants whose signs can be decided within polynomial-time. (A-discriminants contain all known resultants as special cases, and the latter objects are central in algorithmic algebraic geometry.) Baker's Theorem from diophantine approximation arises as a key tool. Along the way, we also derive new quantitative bounds on the real zero sets of n-variate (n+2)-nomials.
We study some systems of polynomials whose support lies in the convex hull of a circuit, giving a sharp upper bound for their numbers of real solutions. This upper bound is non-trivial in that it is smaller than either the Kouchnirenko or the Khovanskii bounds for these systems. When the support is exactly a circuit whose affine span is ${\Z}^n$, this bound is $2n+1$, while the Khovanskii bound is exponential in $n^2$. The bound $2n+1$ can be attained only for non-degenerate circuits. Our methods involve a mixture of combinatorics, geometry, and arithmetic.