The Quadratic Graver Cone, Quadratic Integer Minimization, and Extensions

We consider the nonlinear integer programming problem of minimizing a quadratic function over the integer points in variable dimension satisfying a system of linear inequalities. We show that when the Graver basis of the matrix defining the system is given, and the quadratic function lies in a suitable {\em dual Graver cone}, the problem can be solved in polynomial time. We discuss the relation between this cone and the cone of positive semidefinite matrices, and show that none contains the other. So we can minimize in polynomial time some non-convex and some (including all separable) convex quadrics. We conclude by extending our results to efficient integer minimization of multivariate polynomial functions of arbitrary degree lying in suitable cones

Volumes of Nonnegative Polynomials, Sums of Squares and Powers of Linear Forms

We study the quantitative relationship between the cones of nonnegative polynomials, cones of sums of squares and cones of sums of powers of linear forms. We derive bounds on the volumes (raised to the power reciprocal to the ambient dimension) of compact sections of the three cones. We show that the bounds are asymptotically exact if the degree is fixed and number of variables tends to infinity. When the degree is larger than two it follows that there are significantly more non-negative polynomials than sums of squares and there are significantly more sums of squares than sums of powers of linear forms. Moreover, we quantify the exact discrepancy between the cones; from our bounds it follows that the discrepancy grows as the number of variables increases.Comment: 24 page

Do Sums of Squares Dream of Free Resolutions?

We associate to a real projective variety $X$ two convex cones which are fundamental in real algebraic geometry: the cone $P_X$ of quadratic forms nonnegative on $X$, and the cone $\Sigma_X$ of sums of squares of linear forms. The dual cone $\Sigma_X^\ast$ is a spectrahedron and we show that its convexity properties are closely related to homological properties of $X$. For instance, we show that all extreme rays of $\Sigma_X^\ast$ have rank one if and only if X has Castelnuovo-Mumford regularity two. More generally, if $\Sigma_X^\ast$ has an extreme ray of rank $p > 1$, then $X$ does not satisfy the property $N_{2,p}$. We show that the converse also holds in a wide variety of situations: the smallest $p$ for which property $N_{2,p}$ does not hold is equal to the smallest rank of an extreme ray of $\Sigma_X^\ast$ greater than one. These results allow us to generalize the work of Blekherman-Smith-Velasco on equality of nonnegative polynomials and sums of squares from irreducible varieties to reduced schemes and to classify all spectrahedral cones with only rank one extreme rays. Our results have applications to the positive semidefinite matrix completion problem and to the truncated moment problem on projective varieties.Comment: 26 pages, comments welcom

Amenable cones: error bounds without constraint qualifications

We provide a framework for obtaining error bounds for linear conic problems without assuming constraint qualifications or regularity conditions. The key aspects of our approach are the notions of amenable cones and facial residual functions. For amenable cones, it is shown that error bounds can be expressed as a composition of facial residual functions. The number of compositions is related to the facial reduction technique and the singularity degree of the problem. In particular, we show that symmetric cones are amenable and compute facial residual functions. From that, we are able to furnish a new H\"olderian error bound, thus extending and shedding new light on an earlier result by Sturm on semidefinite matrices. We also provide error bounds for the intersection of amenable cones, this will be used to provided error bounds for the doubly nonnegative cone.Comment: 36 pages, 1 figure. This version was significantly revised. A discussion on the relation between amenability and related concepts was added. In particular, there is a proof that amenable cones are nice and, therefore, facially exposed. Also, gathered the results on symmetric cones in a single section. Several typos and minor issues were fixe

Asymptotical flatness and cone structure at infinity

We investigate asymptotically flat manifolds with cone structure at infinity. We show that any such manifold M has a finite number of ends. For simply connected ends we classify all possible cones at infinity, except for the 4-dimensional case where it remains open if one of the theoretically possible cones can actually arise. This result yields in particular a complete classification of asymptotically flat manifolds with nonnegative curvature: The universal covering of an asymptotically flat manifold with nonnegative sectional curvature is isometric to a product of Euclidean space and an asymptotically flat surface.Comment: 20 pages 1 pic, old paper with minor correction

A Novel Unified Approach to Invariance for a Dynamical System

In this paper, we propose a novel, unified, general approach to investigate sufficient and necessary conditions under which four types of convex sets, polyhedra, polyhedral cones, ellipsoids and Lorenz cones, are invariant sets for a linear continuous or discrete dynamical system. In proving invariance of ellipsoids and Lorenz cones for discrete systems, instead of the traditional Lyapunov method, our novel proofs are based on the S-lemma, which enables us to extend invariance conditions to any set represented by a quadratic inequality. Such sets include nonconvex and unbounded sets. Finally, according to the framework of our novel method, sufficient and necessary conditions for continuous systems are derived from the sufficient and necessary conditions for the corresponding discrete systems that are obtained by Euler methods

LP-based Tractable Subcones of the Semidefinite Plus Nonnegative Cone

The authors in a previous paper devised certain subcones of the semidefinite plus nonnegative cone and showed that satisfaction of the requirements for membership of those subcones can be detected by solving linear optimization problems (LPs) with $O(n)$ variables and $O(n^2)$ constraints. They also devised LP-based algorithms for testing copositivity using the subcones. In this paper, they investigate the properties of the subcones in more detail and explore larger subcones of the positive semidefinite plus nonnegative cone whose satisfaction of the requirements for membership can be detected by solving LPs. They introduce a {\em semidefinite basis (SD basis)} that is a basis of the space of $n \times n$ symmetric matrices consisting of $n(n+1)/2$ symmetric semidefinite matrices. Using the SD basis, they devise two new subcones for which detection can be done by solving LPs with $O(n^2)$ variables and $O(n^2)$ constraints. The new subcones are larger than the ones in the previous paper and inherit their nice properties. The authors also examine the efficiency of those subcones in numerical experiments. The results show that the subcones are promising for testing copositivity as a useful application.Comment: 26 pages, 5 figure

Thom polynomials of invariant cones, Schur functions, and positivity

We generalize the notion of Thom polynomials from singularities of maps between two complex manifolds to invariant cones in representations, and collections of vector bundles. We prove that the generalized Thom polynomials, expanded in the products of Schur functions of the bundles, have nonnegative coefficients. For classical Thom polynomials associated with maps of complex manifolds, this gives an extension of our former result for stable singularities to nonnecessary stable ones. We also discuss some related aspects of Thom polynomials, which makes the article expository to some extent.Comment: 14 page

Positive Gorenstein Ideals

We introduce positive Gorenstein ideals. These are Gorenstein ideals in the graded ring \RR[x] with socle in degree 2d, which when viewed as a linear functional on \RR[x]_{2d} is nonnegative on squares. Equivalently, positive Gorenstein ideals are apolar ideals of forms whose differential operator is nonnegative on squares. Positive Gorenstein ideals arise naturally in the context of nonnegative polynomials and sums of squares, and they provide a powerful framework for studying concrete aspects of sums of squares representations. We present applications of positive Gorenstein ideals in real algebraic geometry, analysis and optimization. In particular, we present a simple proof of Hilbert's nearly forgotten result on representations of ternary nonnegative forms as sums of squares of rational functions. Drawing on our previous work, our main tools are Cayley-Bacharach duality and elementary convex geometry

Generating functions and triangulations for lecture hall cones

We investigate the arithmetic-geometric structure of the lecture hall cone $$L_n \ := \ \left\{\lambda\in \mathbb{R}^n: \, 0\leq \frac{\lambda_1}{1}\leq \frac{\lambda_2}{2}\leq \frac{\lambda_3}{3}\leq \cdots \leq \frac{\lambda_n}{n}\right\} .$$ We show that $L_n$ is isomorphic to the cone over the lattice pyramid of a reflexive simplex whose Ehrhart $h^*$-polynomial is given by the $(n-1)$st Eulerian polynomial, and prove that lecture hall cones admit regular, flag, unimodular triangulations. After explicitly describing the Hilbert basis for $L_n$, we conclude with observations and a conjecture regarding the structure of unimodular triangulations of $L_n$, including connections between enumerative and algebraic properties of $L_n$ and cones over unit cubes