Piecewise Certificates of Positivity for matrix polynomials

We show that any symmetric positive definite homogeneous matrix polynomial $M\in\R[x_1,...,x_n]^{m\times m}$ admits a piecewise semi-certificate, i.e. a collection of identites $M(x)=\sum_jf_{i,j}(x)U_{i,j}(x)^TU_{i,j}(x)$ where $U_{i,j}(x)$ is a matrix polynomial and $f_{i,j}(x)$ is a non negative polynomial on a semi-algebraic subset $S_i$, where $\R^n=\cup_{i=1}^r S_i$. This result generalizes to the setting of biforms. Some examples of certificates are given and among others, we study a variation around the Choi counterexample of a positive semi-definite biquadratic form which is not a sum of squares. As a byproduct we give a representation of the famous non negative sum of squares polynomial $x^4z^2+z^4y^2+y^4x^2-3 x^2y^2z^2$ as the determinant of a positive semi-definite quadratic matrix polynomial

More on Rotations as Spin Matrix Polynomials

Any nonsingular function of spin j matrices always reduces to a matrix polynomial of order 2j. The challenge is to find a convenient form for the coefficients of the matrix polynomial. The theory of biorthogonal systems is a useful framework to meet this challenge. Central factorial numbers play a key role in the theoretical development. Explicit polynomial coefficients for rotations expressed either as exponentials or as rational Cayley transforms are considered here. Structural features of the results are discussed and compared, and large j limits of the coefficients are examined.Comment: Additional references, simplified derivation of Cayley transform polynomial coefficients, resolvent and exponential related by Laplace transform. Other minor changes to conform to published version to appear in J Math Phy