The Euclidean distance degree of smooth complex projective varieties

We obtain several formulas for the Euclidean distance degree (ED degree) of an arbitrary nonsingular variety in projective space: in terms of Chern and Segre classes, Milnor classes, Chern-Schwartz-MacPherson classes, and an extremely simple formula equating the Euclidean distance degree of X with the Euler characteristic of an open subset of X

The product of the eigenvalues of a symmetric tensor

We study E-eigenvalues of a symmetric tensor $f$ of degree $d$ on a finite-dimensional Euclidean vector space $V$, and their relation with the E-characteristic polynomial of $f$. We show that the leading coefficient of the E-characteristic polynomial of $f$, when it has maximum degree, is the $(d-2)$-th power (respectively the $((d-2)/2)$-th power) when $d$ is odd (respectively when $d$ is even) of the $\widetilde{Q}$-discriminant, where $\widetilde{Q}$ is the $d$-th Veronese embedding of the isotropic quadric $Q\subseteq\mathbb{P}(V)$. This fact, together with a known formula for the constant term of the E-characteristic polynomial of $f$, leads to a closed formula for the product of the E-eigenvalues of $f$, which generalizes the fact that the determinant of a symmetric matrix is equal to the product of its eigenvalues.Comment: 18 pages, 1 figur

Chains in CR geometry as geodesics of a Kropina metric

With the help of a generalization of the Fermat principle in general relativity, we show that chains in CR geometry are geodesics of a certain Kropina metric constructed from the CR structure. We study the projective equivalence of Kropina metrics and show that if the kernel distributions of the corresponding 1-forms are non-integrable then two projectively equivalent metrics are trivially projectively equivalent. As an application, we show that sufficiently many chains determine the CR structure up to conjugacy, generalizing and reproving the main result of [J.-H. Cheng, 1988]. The correspondence between geodesics of the Kropina metric and chains allows us to use the methods of metric geometry and the calculus of variations to study chains. We use these methods to re-prove the result of [H. Jacobowitz, 1985] that locally any two points of a strictly pseudoconvex CR manifolds can be joined by a chain. Finally, we generalize this result to the global setting by showing that any two points of a connected compact strictly pseudoconvex CR manifold which admits a pseudo-Einstein contact form with positive Tanaka-Webster scalar curvature can be joined by a chain.Comment: are very welcom