Determinantal representations of hyperbolic plane curves: An elementary approach

If a real symmetric matrix of linear forms is positive definite at some point, then its determinant is a hyperbolic hypersurface. In 2007, Helton and Vinnikov proved a converse in three variables, namely that every hyperbolic plane curve has a definite real symmetric determinantal representation. The goal of this paper is to give a more concrete proof of a slightly weaker statement. Here we show that every hyperbolic plane curve has a definite determinantal representation with Hermitian matrices. We do this by relating the definiteness of a matrix to the real topology of its minors and extending a construction of Dixon from 1902. Like Helton and Vinnikov's theorem, this implies that every hyperbolic region in the plane is defined by a linear matrix inequality.Comment: 15 pages, 4 figures, minor revision

Livsic-type Determinantal Representations and Hyperbolicity

Hyperbolic homogeneous polynomials with real coefficients, i.e., hyperbolic real projective hypersurfaces, and their determinantal representations, play a key role in the emerging field of convex algebraic geometry. In this paper we consider a natural notion of hyperbolicity for a real subvariety $X \subset \mathbb{P}^d$ of an arbitrary codimension $\ell$ with respect to a real $\ell - 1$-dimensional linear subspace $V \subset \mathbb{P}^d$ and study its basic properties. We also consider a special kind of determinantal representations that we call Livsic-type and a nice subclass of these that we call \vr{}. Much like in the case of hypersurfaces ($\ell=1$), the existence of a definite Hermitian \vr{} Livsic-type determinantal representation implies hyperbolicity. We show that every curve admits a \vr{} Livsic-type determinantal representation. Our basic tools are Cauchy kernels for line bundles and the notion of the Bezoutian for two meromorphic functions on a compact Riemann surface that we introduce. We then proceed to show that every real curve in $\mathbb{P}^d$ hyperbolic with respect to some real $d-2$-dimensional linear subspace admits a definite Hermitian, or even real symmetric, \vr{} Livsic-type determinantal representation

LMI Representations of Convex Semialgebraic Sets and Determinantal Representations of Algebraic Hypersurfaces: Past, Present, and Future

10 years ago or so Bill Helton introduced me to some mathematical problems arising from semidefinite programming. This paper is a partial account of what was and what is happening with one of these problems, including many open questions and some new results