Every Ternary Quintic is a Sum of Ten Fifth Powers

To our knowledge at the time of writing, the maximum Waring rank for the set of all ternary forms of degree $d$ (with coefficients in an algebraically closed field of characteristic zero) is known only for $d\le 4$. The best upper bound that is known for $d=5$ is twelve, and in this work we lower it to ten.Comment: Relevant information added in the footnote (1) at p.

The asymptotic leading term for maximum rank of ternary forms of a given degree

Let $\operatorname{r_{max}}(n,d)$ be the maximum Waring rank for the set of all homogeneous polynomials of degree $d>0$ in $n$ indeterminates with coefficients in an algebraically closed field of characteristic zero. To our knowledge, when $n,d\ge 3$, the value of $\operatorname{r_{max}}(n,d)$ is known only for $(n,d)=(3,3),(3,4),(3,5),(4,3)$. We prove that $\operatorname{r_{max}}(3,d)=d^2/4+O(d)$ as a consequence of the upper bound $\operatorname{r_{max}}(3,d)\le\left\lfloor\left(d^2+6d+1\right)/4\right\rfloor$.Comment: v1: 10 pages. v2: extended introduction and some mistakes correcte

Surfaces with triple points

In this paper we compute upper bounds for the number of ordinary triple points on a hypersurface in $P^3$ and give a complete classification for degree six (degree four or less is trivial, and five is elementary). But the real purpose is to point out the intricate geometry of examples with many triple points, and how it fits with the general classification of surfaces

Real rank geometry of ternary forms

We study real ternary forms whose real rank equals the generic complex rank, and we characterize the semialgebraic set of sums of powers representations with that rank. Complete results are obtained for quadrics and cubics. For quintics, we determine the real rank boundary: It is a hypersurface of degree 168. For quartics, sextics and septics, we identify some of the components of the real rank boundary. The real varieties of sums of powers are stratified by discriminants that are derived from hyperdeterminants

Generic Power Sum Decompositions and Bounds for the Waring Rank

A notion of open rank, related with generic power sum decompositions of forms, has recently been introduced in the literature. The main result here is that the maximum open rank for plane quartics is eight. In particular, this gives the first example of $n,d$, such that the maximum open rank for degree $d$ forms that essentially depend on $n$ variables is strictly greater than the maximum rank. On one hand, the result allows to improve the previously known bounds on open rank, but on the other hand indicates that such bounds are likely quite relaxed. Nevertheless, some of the preparatory results are of independent interest, and still may provide useful information in connection with the problem of finding the maximum rank for the set of all forms of given degree and number of variables. For instance, we get that every ternary forms of degree $d\ge 3$ can be annihilated by the product of $d-1$ pairwise independent linear forms.Comment: Accepted version. The final publication is available at link.springer.com: http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00454-017-9886-

Seeking for the maximum symmetric rank

We present the state-of-the-art on maximum symmetric tensor rank, for each given dimension and order. After a general discussion on the interplay between symmetric tensors, polynomials and divided powers, we introduce the technical environment and the methods that have been set up in recent times to find new lower and upper bounds

Study of the best linear approximation of nonlinear systems with arbitrary inputs

System identification is the art of modelling of a process (physical, biological, etc.) or to predict its behaviour or output when the environment condition or parameter changes. One is modelling the input-output relationship of a system, for example, linking temperature of a greenhouse (output) to the sunlight intensity (input), power of a car engine (output) with fuel injection rate (input). In linear systems, changing an input parameter will result in a proportional increase in the system output. This is not the case in a nonlinear system. Linear system identification has been extensively studied, more so than nonlinear system identification. Since most systems are nonlinear to some extent, there is significant interest in this topic as industrial processes become more and more complex. In a linear dynamical system, knowing the impulse response function of a system will allow one to predict the output given any input. For nonlinear systems this is not the case. If advanced theory is not available, it is possible to approximate a nonlinear system by a linear one. One tool is the Best Linear Approximation (Bla), which is an impulse response function of a linear system that minimises the output differences between its nonlinear counterparts for a given class of input. The Bla is often the starting point for modelling a nonlinear system. There is extensive literature on the Bla obtained from input signals with a Gaussian probability density function (p.d.f.), but there has been very little for other kinds of inputs. A Bla estimated from Gaussian inputs is useful in decoupling the linear dynamics from the nonlinearity, and in initialisation of parameterised models. As Gaussian inputs are not always practical to be introduced as excitations, it is important to investigate the dependence of the Bla on the amplitude distribution in more detail. This thesis studies the behaviour of the Bla with regards to other types of signals, and in particular, binary sequences where a signal takes only two levels. Such an input is valuable in many practical situations, for example where the input actuator is a switch or a valve and hence can only be turned either on or off. While it is known in the literature that the Bla depends on the amplitude distribution of the input, as far as the author is aware, there is a lack of comprehensive theoretical study on this topic. In this thesis, the Blas of discrete-time time-invariant nonlinear systems are studied theoretically for white inputs with an arbitrary amplitude distribution, including Gaussian and binary sequences. In doing so, the thesis offers answers to fundamental questions of interest to system engineers, for example: 1) How the amplitude distribution of the input and the system dynamics affect the Bla? 2) How does one quantify the difference between the Bla obtained from a Gaussian input and that obtained from an arbitrary input? 3) Is the difference (if any) negligible? 4) What can be done in terms of experiment design to minimise such difference? To answer these questions, the theoretical expressions for the Bla have been developed for both Wiener-Hammerstein (Wh) systems and the more general Volterra systems. The theory for the Wh case has been verified by simulation and physical experiments in Chapter 3 and Chapter 6 respectively. It is shown in Chapter 3 that the difference between the Gaussian and non-Gaussian Bla’s depends on the system memory as well as the higher order moments of the non-Gaussian input. To quantify this difference, a measure called the Discrepancy Factor—a measure of relative error, was developed. It has been shown that when the system memory is short, the discrepancy can be as high as 44.4%, which is not negligible. This justifies the need for a method to decrease such discrepancy. One method is to design a random multilevel sequence for Gaussianity with respect to its higher order moments, and this is discussed in Chapter 5. When estimating the Bla even in the absence of environment and measurement noise, the nonlinearity inevitably introduces nonlinear distortions—deviations from the Bla specific to the realisation of input used. This also explains why more than one realisation of input and averaging is required to obtain a good estimate of the Bla. It is observed that with a specific class of pseudorandom binary sequence (Prbs), called the maximum length binary sequence (Mlbs or the m-sequence), the nonlinear distortions appear structured in the time domain. Chapter 4 illustrates a simple and computationally inexpensive method to take advantage this structure to obtain better estimates of the Bla—by replacing mean averaging by median averaging. Lastly, Chapters 7 and 8 document two independent benchmark studies separate from the main theoretical work of the thesis. The benchmark in Chapter 7 is concerned with the modelling of an electrical Wh system proposed in a special session of the 15th International Federation of Automatic Control (Ifac) Symposium on System Identification (Sysid) 2009 (Schoukens, Suykens & Ljung, 2009). Chapter 8 is concerned with the modelling of a ‘hyperfast’ Peltier cooling system first proposed in the U.K. Automatic Control Council (Ukacc) International Conference on Control, 2010 (Control 2010)

The monic rank

We introduce the monic rank of a vector relative to an affine-hyperplane section of an irreducible Zariski-closed affine cone $X$. We show that the monic rank is finite and greater than or equal to the usual $X$-rank. We describe an algorithmic technique based on classical invariant theory to determine, in concrete situations, the maximal monic rank. Using this technique, we establish three new instances of a conjecture due to B. Shapiro which states that a binary form of degree $d\cdot e$ is the sum of $d$ $d$th powers of forms of degree $e$. Furthermore, in the case where $X$ is the cone of highest weight vectors in an irreducible representation--this includes the well-known cases of tensor rank and symmetric rank--we raise the question whether the maximal rank equals the maximal monic rank. We answer this question affirmatively in several instances