The Invariant Theory of Matrices

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

The Invariant Theory of Matrices UNIVERSITY LECTURE SERIES VOLUME 69 The Invariant Theory of Matrices Corrado De Concini Claudio Procesi American Mathematical Society The Invariant Theory of Matrices 10.1090/ulect/069 UNIVERSITY LECTURE SERIES VOLUME 69 The Invariant Theory of Matrices Corrado De Concini Claudio Procesi American Mathematical Society Providence, Rhode Island EDITORIAL COMMITTEE Jordan S. Ellenberg Robert Guralnick William P. Minicozzi II (Chair) Tatiana Toro 2010 Mathematics Subject Classification. Primary 15A72, 14L99, 20G20, 20G05. For additional information and updates on this book, visit www.ams.org/bookpages/ulect-69 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: De Concini, Corrado, author. | Procesi, Claudio, author. Title: The invariant theory of matrices / Corrado De Concini, Claudio Procesi. Description: Providence, Rhode Island : American Mathematical Society, [2017] | Series: Univer- sity lecture series ; volume 69 | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2017041943 | ISBN 9781470441876 (alk. paper) Subjects: LCSH: Matrices. | Invariants. | AMS: Linear and multilinear algebra; matrix theory – Basic linear algebra – Vector and tensor algebra, theory of invariants. msc | Algebraic geometry – Algebraic groups – None of the above, but in this section. msc | Group theory and generalizations – Linear algebraic groups and related topics – Linear algebraic groups over the reals, the complexes, the quaternions. msc | Group theory and generalizations – Linear algebraic groups and related topics – Representation theory. msc Classification: LCC QA188 .D425 2017 | DDC 512.9/434–dc23 LC record available at https://lccn. loc.gov/2017041943 Copying and reprinting. Individual readers of this publication, and nonprofit libraries acting for them, are permitted to make fair use of the material, such as to copy select pages for use in teaching or research. Permission is granted to quote brief passages from this publication in reviews, provided the customary acknowledgment of the source is given. Republication, systematic copying, or multiple reproduction of any material in this publication is permitted only under license from the American Mathematical Society. Permissions to reuse portions of AMS publication content are handled by Copyright Clearance Center’s RightsLink service. For more information, please visit: http://www.ams.org/rightslink. Send requests for translation rights and licensed reprints to [email protected]. Excluded from these provisions is material for which the author holds copyright. In such cases, requests for permission to reuse or reprint material should be addressed directly to the author(s). Copyright ownership is indicated on the copyright page, or on the lower right-hand corner of the first page of each article within proceedings volumes. c 2017 by the American Mathematical Society. All rights reserved. The American Mathematical Society retains all rights except those granted to the United States Government. Printed in the United States of America. ∞ The paper used in this book is acid-free and falls within the guidelines established to ensure permanence and durability. Visit the AMS home page at http://www.ams.org/ 10987654321 222120191817 Table of Contents Introductionandpreliminaries ......................... 1 1. Introduction.......................................... 2 2. Preliminaries......................................... 8 PartI. Theclassicaltheory........................... 19 3. Representationtheory................................... 20 4. Algebraswithtrace..................................... 28 PartII. Quasi-hereditaryalgebras...................... 39 5. Modules............................................. 40 6. Goodfiltrationsandquasi-hereditaryalgebras.................. 43 PartIII. TheSchuralgebra........................... 49 7. TheSchuralgebra...................................... 50 8. Doubletableaux....................................... 51 9. ModulesfortheSchuralgebra............................. 62 10. Rational GL(m)-modules................................ 75 11. Tensorproducts...................................... 78 PartIV. Matrixfunctionsandinvariants................. 87 12. Areductionforinvariantsofseveralmatrices ................. 88 13. Polarizationandspecialization............................ 91 14. Exteriorproducts..................................... 95 15. Matrixfunctionsandinvariants........................... 99 PartV. Relations.................................. 107 16. Relations...........................................108 17. Describing Km .......................................110 18. Km versus K˜m .......................................118 PartVI. TheSchuralgebraofafreealgebra............... 131 19. Preliminaryfacts .....................................132 20. TheSchuralgebraofthefreealgebra.......................135 Bibliography..............................................145 GeneralIndex.............................................149 SymbolIndex..............................................151 v Bibliography [1]E.Aljadeff,A.Giambruno,C.Procesi,A.Regev,Rings with polynomial identities and finite dimensional representations of algebras, book in preparation. [2] S. A. Amitsur, On the characteristic polynomial of a sum of matrices, Linear and Multilinear Algebra 8 (1979/80), no. 3, 177–182, DOI 10.1080/03081088008817315. MR560557 [3] H. Aslaksen, E.-C. Tan, and C.-b. Zhu, Invariant theory of special orthogonal groups,Pacific J. Math. 168 (1995), no. 2, 207–215. MR1339950 [4] I. Assem, D. Simson, and A. Skowro´nski, Elements of the representation theory of associative algebras. Vol. 1. Techniques of representation theory, London Mathematical Society Student Texts, vol. 65, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2006. MR2197389 [5] A. Bergmann, Formen auf Modulnuber ¨ kommutativen Ringen beliebiger Charakteristik (German), J. Reine Angew. Math. 219 (1965), 113–156, DOI 10.1515/crll.1965.219.113. MR0190167 [6] A. Borel, Linear algebraic groups, 2nd ed., Graduate Texts in Mathematics, vol. 126, Springer- Verlag, New York, 1991. MR1102012 [7] A. Borel, Density properties for certain subgroups of semi-simple groups without compact components, Ann. of Math. (2) 72 (1960), 179–188, DOI 10.2307/1970150. MR0123639 [8] R. Bott, Homogeneous vector bundles, Ann. of Math. (2) 66 (1957), 203–248, DOI 10.2307/1969996. MR0089473 [9] E. Cline, B. Parshall, and L. Scott, Algebraic stratification in representation categories,J. Algebra 117 (1988), no. 2, 504–521, DOI 10.1016/0021-8693(88)90123-8. MR957457 [10] E. Cline, B. Parshall, and L. Scott, Finite-dimensional algebras and highest weight categories, J. Reine Angew. Math. 391 (1988), 85–99. MR961165 [11] E. Cline, B. Parshall, and L. Scott, Integral and graded quasi-hereditary algebras. I,J.Algebra 131 (1990), no. 1, 126–160, DOI 10.1016/0021-8693(90)90169-O. MR1055002 [12] E. Cline, B. Parshall, and L. Scott, The homological dual of a highest weight category,Proc. London Math. Soc. (3) 68 (1994), no. 2, 294–316, DOI 10.1112/plms/s3-68.2.294. MR1253506 [13] E. Cline, B. Parshall, and L. Scott, Stratifying endomorphism algebras,Mem.Amer.Math. Soc. 124 (1996), no. 591, viii+119, DOI 10.1090/memo/0591. MR1350891 [14] C. de Concini, D. Eisenbud, and C. Procesi, Young diagrams and determinantal varieties, Invent. Math. 56 (1980), no. 2, 129–165, DOI 10.1007/BF01392548. MR558865 [15] V. Dlab and C. M. Ringel, Quasi-hereditary algebras, Illinois J. Math. 33 (1989), no. 2, 280–291. MR987824 [16] V. Dlab, P. Heath, and F. Marko, Quasi-heredity of endomorphism algebras,C.R.Math. Rep. Acad. Sci. Canada 16 (1994), no. 6, 277–282. MR1321690 [17] M. Domokos, S. G. Kuzmin, and A. N. Zubkov, Rings of matrix invariants in positive charac- teristic, J. Pure Appl. Algebra 176 (2002), no. 1, 61–80, DOI 10.1016/S0022-4049(02)00117-2. MR1930966 [18] M. Domokos and P. E. Frenkel, Mod 2 indecomposable orthogonal invariants, Adv. Math. 192 (2005), no. 1, 209–217, DOI 10.1016/j.aim.2004.04.005. MR2122284 [19] S. Donkin, Rational representations of algebraic groups, Lecture Notes in Mathematics, vol. 1140, Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 1985. Tensor products and filtration. MR804233 [20] S. Donkin, Invariants of several matrices, Invent. Math. 110 (1992), no. 2, 389–401, DOI 10.1007/BF01231338. MR1185589 [21] S. Donkin, Invariant functions on matrices, Math. Proc. Cambridge Philos. Soc. 113 (1993), no. 1, 23–43, DOI 10.1017/S0305004100075757. MR1188816 [22] P. Doubilet, G.-C. Rota, and J. Stein, On the foundations of combinatorial theory. IX. Combi- natorial methods in invariant theory, Studies in Appl. Math. 53 (1974), 185–216. MR0498650 145 146 BIBLIOGRAPHY [23] V. Drensky, Computing with matrix invariants, Math. Balkanica (N.S.) 21 (2007), no. 1-2, 141–172. MR2350726 [24] E. Formanek, The invariants of n × n matrices, Invariant theory, Lecture Notes in Math., vol. 1278, Springer, Berlin, 1987, pp. 18–43, DOI 10.1007/BFb0078804. MR924163 [25] E. Formanek, The polynomial identities and invariants of n × n matrices, CBMS Regional Conference Series in Mathematics, vol. 78, Published for the Conference Board of the Math- ematical Sciences, Washington, DC; by the American Mathematical Society, Providence, RI, 1991. MR1088481 [26] W. Fulton and J. Harris, Representation theory: A first course, Readings in Mathematics. Graduate Texts in Mathematics, vol. 129, Springer-Verlag, New York, 1991. MR1153249 [27] J. A. Green, Polynomial representations of GLn, Lecture Notes in Mathematics, vol. 830, Springer-Verlag, Berlin-New York, 1980. MR606556 [28] M.
Recommended publications
  • Algebraic Geometry, Moduli Spaces, and Invariant Theory
    Algebraic Geometry, Moduli Spaces, and Invariant Theory Han-Bom Moon Department of Mathematics Fordham University May, 2016 Han-Bom Moon Algebraic Geometry, Moduli Spaces, and Invariant Theory Part I Algebraic Geometry Han-Bom Moon Algebraic Geometry, Moduli Spaces, and Invariant Theory Algebraic geometry From wikipedia: Algebraic geometry is a branch of mathematics, classically studying zeros of multivariate polynomials. Han-Bom Moon Algebraic Geometry, Moduli Spaces, and Invariant Theory Algebraic geometry in highschool The zero set of a two-variable polynomial provides a plane curve. Example: 2 2 2 f(x; y) = x + y 1 Z(f) := (x; y) R f(x; y) = 0 − , f 2 j g a unit circle ··· Han-Bom Moon Algebraic Geometry, Moduli Spaces, and Invariant Theory Algebraic geometry in college calculus The zero set of a three-variable polynomial give a surface. Examples: 2 2 2 3 f(x; y; z) = x + y z 1 Z(f) := (x; y; z) R f(x; y; z) = 0 − − , f 2 j g 2 2 2 3 g(x; y; z) = x + y z Z(g) := (x; y; z) R g(x; y; z) = 0 − , f 2 j g Han-Bom Moon Algebraic Geometry, Moduli Spaces, and Invariant Theory Algebraic geometry in college calculus The common zero set of two three-variable polynomials gives a space curve. Example: f(x; y; z) = x2 + y2 + z2 1; g(x; y; z) = x + y + z − Z(f; g) := (x; y; z) R3 f(x; y; z) = g(x; y; z) = 0 , f 2 j g Definition An algebraic variety is a common zero set of some polynomials.
    [Show full text]
  • Reflection Invariant and Symmetry Detection
    1 Reflection Invariant and Symmetry Detection Erbo Li and Hua Li Abstract—Symmetry detection and discrimination are of fundamental meaning in science, technology, and engineering. This paper introduces reflection invariants and defines the directional moments(DMs) to detect symmetry for shape analysis and object recognition. And it demonstrates that detection of reflection symmetry can be done in a simple way by solving a trigonometric system derived from the DMs, and discrimination of reflection symmetry can be achieved by application of the reflection invariants in 2D and 3D. Rotation symmetry can also be determined based on that. Also, if none of reflection invariants is equal to zero, then there is no symmetry. And the experiments in 2D and 3D show that all the reflection lines or planes can be deterministically found using DMs up to order six. This result can be used to simplify the efforts of symmetry detection in research areas,such as protein structure, model retrieval, reverse engineering, and machine vision etc. Index Terms—symmetry detection, shape analysis, object recognition, directional moment, moment invariant, isometry, congruent, reflection, chirality, rotation F 1 INTRODUCTION Kazhdan et al. [1] developed a continuous measure and dis- The essence of geometric symmetry is self-evident, which cussed the properties of the reflective symmetry descriptor, can be found everywhere in nature and social lives, as which was expanded to 3D by [2] and was augmented in shown in Figure 1. It is true that we are living in a spatial distribution of the objects asymmetry by [3] . For symmetric world. Pursuing the explanation of symmetry symmetry discrimination [4] defined a symmetry distance will provide better understanding to the surrounding world of shapes.
    [Show full text]
  • An Elementary Proof of the First Fundamental Theorem of Vector Invariant Theory
    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Elsevier - Publisher Connector JOURNAL OF ALGEBRA 102, 556-563 (1986) An Elementary Proof of the First Fundamental Theorem of Vector Invariant Theory MARILENA BARNABEI AND ANDREA BRINI Dipariimento di Matematica, Universitri di Bologna, Piazza di Porta S. Donato, 5, 40127 Bologna, Italy Communicated by D. A. Buchsbaum Received March 11, 1985 1. INTRODUCTION For a long time, the problem of extending to arbitrary characteristic the Fundamental Theorems of classical invariant theory remained untouched. The technique of Young bitableaux, introduced by Doubilet, Rota, and Stein, succeeded in providing a simple combinatorial proof of the First Fundamental Theorem valid over every infinite field. Since then, it was generally thought that the use of bitableaux, or some equivalent device-as the cancellation lemma proved by Hodge after a suggestion of D. E. LittlewoodPwould be indispensable in any such proof, and that single tableaux would not suffice. In this note, we provide a simple combinatorial proof of the First Fun- damental Theorem of invariant theory, valid in any characteristic, which uses only single tableaux or “brackets,” as they were named by Cayley. We believe the main combinatorial lemma (Theorem 2.2) used in our proof can be fruitfully put to use in other invariant-theoretic settings, as we hope to show elsewhere. 2. A COMBINATORIAL LEMMA Let K be a commutative integral domain, with unity. Given an alphabet of d symbols x1, x2,..., xd and a positive integer n, consider the d. n variables (xi\ j), i= 1, 2 ,..., d, j = 1, 2 ,..., n, which are supposed to be algebraically independent.
    [Show full text]
  • A New Invariant Under Congruence of Nonsingular Matrices
    A new invariant under congruence of nonsingular matrices Kiyoshi Shirayanagi and Yuji Kobayashi Abstract For a nonsingular matrix A, we propose the form Tr(tAA−1), the trace of the product of its transpose and inverse, as a new invariant under congruence of nonsingular matrices. 1 Introduction Let K be a field. We denote the set of all n n matrices over K by M(n,K), and the set of all n n nonsingular matrices× over K by GL(n,K). For A, B M(n,K), A is similar× to B if there exists P GL(n,K) such that P −1AP = B∈, and A is congruent to B if there exists P ∈ GL(n,K) such that tP AP = B, where tP is the transpose of P . A map f∈ : M(n,K) K is an invariant under similarity of matrices if for any A M(n,K), f(P→−1AP ) = f(A) holds for all P GL(n,K). Also, a map g : M∈ (n,K) K is an invariant under congruence∈ of matrices if for any A M(n,K), g(→tP AP ) = g(A) holds for all P GL(n,K), and h : GL(n,K) ∈ K is an invariant under congruence of nonsingular∈ matrices if for any A →GL(n,K), h(tP AP ) = h(A) holds for all P GL(n,K). ∈ ∈As is well known, there are many invariants under similarity of matrices, such as trace, determinant and other coefficients of the minimal polynomial. In arXiv:1904.04397v1 [math.RA] 8 Apr 2019 case the characteristic is zero, rank is also an example.
    [Show full text]
  • Arxiv:1810.05857V3 [Math.AG] 11 Jun 2020
    HYPERDETERMINANTS FROM THE E8 DISCRIMINANT FRED´ ERIC´ HOLWECK AND LUKE OEDING Abstract. We find expressions of the polynomials defining the dual varieties of Grass- mannians Gr(3, 9) and Gr(4, 8) both in terms of the fundamental invariants and in terms of a generic semi-simple element. We restrict the polynomial defining the dual of the ad- joint orbit of E8 and obtain the polynomials of interest as factors. To find an expression of the Gr(4, 8) discriminant in terms of fundamental invariants, which has 15, 942 terms, we perform interpolation with mod-p reductions and rational reconstruction. From these expressions for the discriminants of Gr(3, 9) and Gr(4, 8) we also obtain expressions for well-known hyperdeterminants of formats 3 × 3 × 3 and 2 × 2 × 2 × 2. 1. Introduction Cayley’s 2 × 2 × 2 hyperdeterminant is the well-known polynomial 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 ∆222 = x000x111 + x001x110 + x010x101 + x100x011 + 4(x000x011x101x110 + x001x010x100x111) − 2(x000x001x110x111 + x000x010x101x111 + x000x100x011x111+ x001x010x101x110 + x001x100x011x110 + x010x100x011x101). ×3 It generates the ring of invariants for the group SL(2) ⋉S3 acting on the tensor space C2×2×2. It is well-studied in Algebraic Geometry. Its vanishing defines the projective dual of the Segre embedding of three copies of the projective line (a toric variety) [13], and also coincides with the tangential variety of the same Segre product [24, 28, 33]. On real tensors it separates real ranks 2 and 3 [9]. It is the unique relation among the principal minors of a general 3 × 3 symmetric matrix [18].
    [Show full text]
  • Moduli Spaces and Invariant Theory
    MODULI SPACES AND INVARIANT THEORY JENIA TEVELEV CONTENTS §1. Syllabus 3 §1.1. Prerequisites 3 §1.2. Course description 3 §1.3. Course grading and expectations 4 §1.4. Tentative topics 4 §1.5. Textbooks 4 References 4 §2. Geometry of lines 5 §2.1. Grassmannian as a complex manifold. 5 §2.2. Moduli space or a parameter space? 7 §2.3. Stiefel coordinates. 8 §2.4. Complete system of (semi-)invariants. 8 §2.5. Plücker coordinates. 9 §2.6. First Fundamental Theorem 10 §2.7. Equations of the Grassmannian 11 §2.8. Homogeneous ideal 13 §2.9. Hilbert polynomial 15 §2.10. Enumerative geometry 17 §2.11. Transversality. 19 §2.12. Homework 1 21 §3. Fine moduli spaces 23 §3.1. Categories 23 §3.2. Functors 25 §3.3. Equivalence of Categories 26 §3.4. Representable Functors 28 §3.5. Natural Transformations 28 §3.6. Yoneda’s Lemma 29 §3.7. Grassmannian as a fine moduli space 31 §4. Algebraic curves and Riemann surfaces 37 §4.1. Elliptic and Abelian integrals 37 §4.2. Finitely generated fields of transcendence degree 1 38 §4.3. Analytic approach 40 §4.4. Genus and meromorphic forms 41 §4.5. Divisors and linear equivalence 42 §4.6. Branched covers and Riemann–Hurwitz formula 43 §4.7. Riemann–Roch formula 45 §4.8. Linear systems 45 §5. Moduli of elliptic curves 47 1 2 JENIA TEVELEV §5.1. Curves of genus 1. 47 §5.2. J-invariant 50 §5.3. Monstrous Moonshine 52 §5.4. Families of elliptic curves 53 §5.5. The j-line is a coarse moduli space 54 §5.6.
    [Show full text]
  • Emmy Noether, Greatest Woman Mathematician Clark Kimberling
    Emmy Noether, Greatest Woman Mathematician Clark Kimberling Mathematics Teacher, March 1982, Volume 84, Number 3, pp. 246–249. Mathematics Teacher is a publication of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM). With more than 100,000 members, NCTM is the largest organization dedicated to the improvement of mathematics education and to the needs of teachers of mathematics. Founded in 1920 as a not-for-profit professional and educational association, NCTM has opened doors to vast sources of publications, products, and services to help teachers do a better job in the classroom. For more information on membership in the NCTM, call or write: NCTM Headquarters Office 1906 Association Drive Reston, Virginia 20191-9988 Phone: (703) 620-9840 Fax: (703) 476-2970 Internet: http://www.nctm.org E-mail: [email protected] Article reprinted with permission from Mathematics Teacher, copyright March 1982 by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. All rights reserved. mmy Noether was born over one hundred years ago in the German university town of Erlangen, where her father, Max Noether, was a professor of Emathematics. At that time it was very unusual for a woman to seek a university education. In fact, a leading historian of the day wrote that talk of “surrendering our universities to the invasion of women . is a shameful display of moral weakness.”1 At the University of Erlangen, the Academic Senate in 1898 declared that the admission of women students would “overthrow all academic order.”2 In spite of all this, Emmy Noether was able to attend lectures at Erlangen in 1900 and to matriculate there officially in 1904.
    [Show full text]
  • 15. Eigenvalues, Eigenvectors Invariant Directions
    15. Eigenvalues, Eigenvectors Matrix of a Linear Transformation Consider a linear transformation L : ! ! ! ! 1 a 0 b 2 ! 2. Suppose we know that L = and L = . Then R R 0 c 1 d ! x because of linearity, we can determine what L does to any vector : y ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! x 1 0 1 0 a b ax + by L = L(x +y ) = xL +yL = x +y = : y 0 1 0 1 c d cx + dy ! x Now notice that for any vector , we have y ! ! ! ! a b x ax + by x = = L : c d y cx + dy y ! a b Then the matrix acts by matrix multiplication in the same way c d ! ! 1 0 that L does. Call this matrix the matrix of L in the \basis" f ; g. 0 1 2 2 Since every linear function from R ! R can be given a matrix in this way, we see that every such linear function has a matrix in the basis ! ! 1 0 f ; g. We will revisit this idea, and develop the notion of a ba- 0 1 sis further, and learn about how to make a matrix for an arbitrary linear n m transformation R ! R in an arbitrary basis. Invariant Directions ! ! ! 1 −4 0 Consider the linear transformation L such that L = and L = 0 −10 1 ! ! 3 −4 3 , so that the matrix of L is . Recall that a vector is a direc- 7 −10 7 ! ! 1 0 tion and a magnitude; L applied to or changes both the direction 0 1 and the magnitude of the vectors given to it.
    [Show full text]
  • Symmetry Reductions and Invariant Solutions of Four Nonlinear Differential Equations
    mathematics Article l-Symmetry and m-Symmetry Reductions and Invariant Solutions of Four Nonlinear Differential Equations Yu-Shan Bai 1,2,*, Jian-Ting Pei 1 and Wen-Xiu Ma 2,3,4,5,* 1 Department of Mathematics, Inner Mongolia University of Technology, Hohhot 010051, China; [email protected] 2 Department of Mathematics and Statistics, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL 33620-5700, USA 3 Department of Mathematics, Zhejiang Normal University, Jinhua 321004, China 4 Department of Mathematics, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia 5 School of Mathematics, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510640, China * Correspondence: [email protected] (Y.-S.B.); [email protected] (W.-X.M.) Received: 9 June 2020; Accepted: 9 July 2020; Published: 12 July 2020 Abstract: On one hand, we construct l-symmetries and their corresponding integrating factors and invariant solutions for two kinds of ordinary differential equations. On the other hand, we present m-symmetries for a (2+1)-dimensional diffusion equation and derive group-reductions of a first-order partial differential equation. A few specific group invariant solutions of those two partial differential equations are constructed. Keywords: l-symmetries; m-symmetries; integrating factors; invariant solutions 1. Introduction Lie symmetry method is a powerful technique which can be used to solve nonlinear differential equations algorithmically, and there are many such examples in mathematics, physics and engineering [1,2]. If an nth-order ordinary differential equation (ODE) that admits an n-dimensional solvable Lie algebra of symmetries, then a solution of the ODE, involving n arbitrary constants, can be constructed successfully by quadrature.
    [Show full text]
  • The Invariant Theory of Binary Forms
    BULLETIN (New Series) OF THE AMERICAN MATHEMATICAL SOCIETY Volume 10, Number 1, January 1984 THE INVARIANT THEORY OF BINARY FORMS BY JOSEPH P. S. KUNG1 AND GIAN-CARLO ROTA2 Dedicated to Mark Kac on his seventieth birthday Table of Contents 1. Introduction 2. Umbral Notation 2.1 Binary forms and their covariants 2.2 Umbral notation 2.3 Changes of variables 3. The Fundamental Theorems 3.1 Bracket polynomials 3.2 The straightening algorithm 3.3 The second fundamental theorem 3.4 The first fundamental theorem 4. Covariants in Terms of the Roots 4.1 Homogenized roots 4.2 Tableaux in terms of roots 4.3 Covariants and differences 4.4 Hermite's reciprocity law 5. Apolarity 5.1 The apolar covariant 5.2 Forms apolar to a given form 5.3 Sylvester's theorem 5.4 The Hessian and the cubic 6. The Finiteness Theorem 6.1 Generating sets of covariants 6.2 Circular straightening 6.3 Elemental bracket monomials 6.4 Reduction of degree 6.5 Gordan's lemma 6.6 The binary cubic 7. Further Work References 1. Introduction. Like the Arabian phoenix rising out of its ashes, the theory of invariants, pronounced dead at the turn of the century, is once again at the forefront of mathematics. During its long eclipse, the language of modern algebra was developed, a sharp tool now at long last being applied to the very Received by the editors May 26, 1983. 1980 Mathematics Subject Classification. Primary 05-02, 13-02, 14-02, 15-02. 1 Supported by a North Texas State University Faculty Research Grant.
    [Show full text]
  • Invariant Measures and Arithmetic Unique Ergodicity
    Annals of Mathematics, 163 (2006), 165–219 Invariant measures and arithmetic quantum unique ergodicity By Elon Lindenstrauss* Appendix with D. Rudolph Abstract We classify measures on the locally homogeneous space Γ\ SL(2, R) × L which are invariant and have positive entropy under the diagonal subgroup of SL(2, R) and recurrent under L. This classification can be used to show arithmetic quantum unique ergodicity for compact arithmetic surfaces, and a similar but slightly weaker result for the finite volume case. Other applications are also presented. In the appendix, joint with D. Rudolph, we present a maximal ergodic theorem, related to a theorem of Hurewicz, which is used in theproofofthe main result. 1. Introduction We recall that the group L is S-algebraic if it is a finite product of algebraic groups over R, C,orQp, where S stands for the set of fields that appear in this product. An S-algebraic homogeneous space is the quotient of an S-algebraic group by a compact subgroup. Let L be an S-algebraic group, K a compact subgroup of L, G = SL(2, R) × L and Γ a discrete subgroup of G (for example, Γ can be a lattice of G), and consider the quotient X =Γ\G/K. The diagonal subgroup et 0 A = : t ∈ R ⊂ SL(2, R) 0 e−t acts on X by right translation. In this paper we wish to study probablilty measures µ on X invariant under this action. Without further restrictions, one does not expect any meaningful classi- fication of such measures. For example, one may take L = SL(2, Qp), K = *The author acknowledges support of NSF grant DMS-0196124.
    [Show full text]
  • GEOMETRIC INVARIANT THEORY and FLIPS Ever Since the Invention
    JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN MATHEMATICAL SOCIETY Volume 9, Number 3, July 1996 GEOMETRIC INVARIANT THEORY AND FLIPS MICHAEL THADDEUS Ever since the invention of geometric invariant theory, it has been understood that the quotient it constructs is not entirely canonical, but depends on a choice: the choice of a linearization of the group action. However, the founders of the subject never made a systematic study of this dependence. In light of its fundamental and elementary nature, this is a rather surprising gap, and this paper will attempt to fill it. In one sense, the question can be answered almost completely. Roughly, the space of all possible linearizations is divided into finitely many polyhedral chambers within which the quotient is constant (2.3), (2.4), and when a wall between two chambers is crossed, the quotient undergoes a birational transformation which, under mild conditions, is a flip in the sense of Mori (3.3). Moreover, there are sheaves of ideals on the two quotients whose blow-ups are both isomorphic to a component of the fibred product of the two quotients over the quotient on the wall (3.5). Thus the two quotients are related by a blow-up followed by a blow-down. The ideal sheaves cannot always be described very explicitly, but there is not much more to say in complete generality. To obtain more concrete results, we require smoothness, and certain conditions on the stabilizers which, though fairly strong, still include many interesting examples. The heart of the paper, 4and 5, is devoted to describing the birational transformations between quotients§§ as explicitly as possible under these hypotheses.
    [Show full text]