Examples illustrating some aspects of the weak Deligne-Simpson pro blem

We consider the variety of $(p+1)$-tuples of matrices $A_j$ (resp. $M_j$) from given conjugacy classes $c_j\subset gl(n,{\bf C})$ (resp. $C_j\subset GL(n,{\bf C})$) such that $A_1+... +A_{p+1}=0$ (resp. $M_1... M_{p+1}=I$). This variety is connected with the weak {\em Deligne-Simpson problem: give necessary and sufficient conditions on the choice of the conjugacy classes $c_j\subset gl(n,{\bf C})$ (resp. $C_j\subset GL(n,{\bf C})$) so that there exist $(p+1)$-tuples with trivial centralizers of matrices $A_j\in c_j$ (resp. $M_j\in C_j$) whose sum equals 0 (resp. whose product equals $I$).} The matrices $A_j$ (resp. $M_j$) are interpreted as matrices-residua of Fuchsian linear systems (resp. as monodromy operators of regular linear systems) on Riemann's sphere. We consider examples of such varieties of dimension higher than the expected one due to the presence of $(p+1)$-tuples with non-trivial centralizers; in one of the examples the difference between the two dimensions is O(n).Comment: Research partially supported by INTAS grant 97-164

On higher-order discriminants

For the family of polynomials in one variable $P:=x^n+a_1x^{n-1}+\cdots +a_n$, $n\geq 4$, we consider its higher-order discriminant sets $\{ \tilde{D}_m=0\}$, where $\tilde{D}_m:=$Res$(P,P^{(m)})$, $m=2$, $\ldots$, $n-2$, and their projections in the spaces of the variables $a^k:=(a_1,\ldots ,a_{k-1},a_{k+1},\ldots ,a_n)$. Set $P^{(m)}:=\sum _{j=0}^{n-m}c_ja_jx^{n-m-j}$, $P_{m,k}:=c_kP-x^mP^{(m)}$. We show that Res$(\tilde{D}_m,\partial \tilde{D}_m/\partial a_k,a_k)= A_{m,k}B_{m,k}C_{m,k}^2$, where $A_{m,k}=a_n^{n-m-k}$, $B_{m,k}=$Res$(P_{m,k},P_{m,k}')$ if $1\leq k\leq n-m$ and $A_{m,k}=a_{n-m}^{n-k}$, $B_{m,k}=$Res$(P^{(m)},P^{(m+1)})$ if $n-m+1\leq k\leq n$. The equation $C_{m,k}=0$ defines the projection in the space of the variables $a^k$ of the closure of the set of values of $(a_1,\ldots ,a_n)$ for which $P$ and $P^{(m)}$ have two distinct roots in common. The polynomials $B_{m,k},C_{m,k}\in \mathbb{C}[a^k]$ are irreducible. The result is generalized to the case when $P^{(m)}$ is replaced by a polynomial $P_*:=\sum _{j=0}^{n-m}b_ja_jx^{n-m-j}$, $0\neq b_i\neq b_j\neq 0$ for $i\neq j$