Geometry Seminar

Date: April 9, 2021

Time: 4:00PM - 5:00PM

Location: zoom

Speaker: M. Velasco, Universidad de los Andes, Bogotá, Colombia

Title: The geometry of SOS-multipliers on varieties

Abstract: A homogeneous polynomial F admits an SOS-multiplier certificate on a real projective variety X if there exist sums of squares g and s such that Fg=s in the homogeneous coordinate ring of X. Such an expression certifies the non-negativity of F and is thus of considerable theoretical and practical importance, giving us new algorithms for global optimization as well as many new open problems at the interface between real and complex algebraic geometry. In this talk I will present ongoing work with G. Blekherman, R. Sinn and G.G. Smith on the geometry of such non-negativity certificates. Our main results are effective bounds on the degrees of possible g's on algebraic curves and surfaces which depend on classical geometric invariants of the varieties. These bounds are, in some cases, provably optimal providing us with the strongest lower bounds on effective version of Hilbert's 17th problem.