9 research outputs found
The convex Positivstellensatz in a free algebra
Given a monic linear pencil L in g variables let D_L be its positivity
domain, i.e., the set of all g-tuples X of symmetric matrices of all sizes
making L(X) positive semidefinite. Because L is a monic linear pencil, D_L is
convex with interior, and conversely it is known that convex bounded
noncommutative semialgebraic sets with interior are all of the form D_L. The
main result of this paper establishes a perfect noncommutative
Nichtnegativstellensatz on a convex semialgebraic set. Namely, a noncommutative
polynomial p is positive semidefinite on D_L if and only if it has a weighted
sum of squares representation with optimal degree bounds: p = s^* s + \sum_j
f_j^* L f_j, where s, f_j are vectors of noncommutative polynomials of degree
no greater than 1/2 deg(p). This noncommutative result contrasts sharply with
the commutative setting, where there is no control on the degrees of s, f_j and
assuming only p nonnegative, as opposed to p strictly positive, yields a clean
Positivstellensatz so seldom that such cases are noteworthy.Comment: 22 page
On real one-sided ideals in a free algebra
In classical and real algebraic geometry there are several notions of the
radical of an ideal I. There is the vanishing radical defined as the set of all
real polynomials vanishing on the real zero set of I, and the real radical
defined as the smallest real ideal containing I. By the real Nullstellensatz
they coincide. This paper focuses on extensions of these to the free algebra
R of noncommutative real polynomials in x=(x_1,...,x_g) and
x^*=(x_1^*,...,x_g^*).
We work with a natural notion of the (noncommutative real) zero set V(I) of a
left ideal I in the free algebra. The vanishing radical of I is the set of all
noncommutative polynomials p which vanish on V(I). In this paper our quest is
to find classes of left ideals I which coincide with their vanishing radical.
We completely succeed for monomial ideals and homogeneous principal ideals. We
also present the case of principal univariate ideals with a degree two
generator and find that it is very messy. Also we give an algorithm (running
under NCAlgebra) which checks if a left ideal is radical or is not, and
illustrate how one uses our implementation of it.Comment: v1: 31 pages; v2: 32 page