Algebraic equations and convex bodies

Given an affine variety X and a finite dimensional vector space of regular functions L on X, we associate a convex body to (X, L) such that its volume is responsible for the number of solutions of a generic system of functions from L. This is a far reaching generalization of usual theory of Newton polytopes (which is concerned with toric varieties). As applications we give new, simple and transparent proofs of some well-known theorems in both algebraic geometry (e.g. Hodge In...

Let K(X) be the collection of all non-zero finite dimensional subspaces of rational functions on an n-dimensional irreducible variety X. For any n-tuple L_1,..., L_n in K(X), we define an intersection index [L_1,..., L_n] as the number of solutions in X of a system of equations f_1 = ... = f_n = 0 where each f_i is a generic function from the space L_i. In counting the solutions, we neglect the solutions x at which all the functions in some space L_i vanish as well as the sol...

We give an elementary introduction to some recent polyhedral techniques for understanding and solving systems of multivariate polynomial equations. We provide numerous concrete examples and illustrations, and assume no background in algebraic geometry or convex geometry. Highlights include the following: (1) A completely self-contained proof of an extension of Bernstein's Theorem. Our extension relates volumes of polytopes with the number of connected components of the comp...

A theorem of Kushnirenko and Bernstein shows that the number of isolated roots of a system of polynomials in a torus is bounded above by the mixed volume of the Newton polytopes of the given polynomials, and this upper bound is generically exact. We improve on this result by introducing refined combinatorial invariants of polynomials and a generalization of the mixed volume of convex bodies: the mixed integral of concave functions. The proof is based on new techniques and res...

Computing mixed volume of convex polytopes is an important problem in computational algebraic geometry. This paper establishes sufficient conditions under which the mixed volume of several convex polytopes exactly equals the normalized volume of the convex hull of their union. Under these conditions the problem of computing mixed volume of several polytopes can be transformed into a volume computation problem for a single polytope in the same dimension. We demonstrate through...

We show that the mixed volumes of arbitrary convex bodies are equal to mixed multiplicities of graded families of monomial ideals, and to normalized limits of mixed multiplicities of monomial ideals. This result evinces the close relation between the theories of mixed volumes from convex geometry and mixed multiplicities from commutative algebra.

If the complement of a closed convex set in a closed convex cone is bounded, then this complement minus the apex of the cone is called a coconvex set. Coconvex sets appear in singularity theory (they are closely related to Newton diagrams) and in commutative algebra. Such invariants of coconvex sets as volumes, mixed volumes, number of integer points, etc., play an important role. This paper aims at extending various results from the theory of convex bodies to the coconvex se...

The set of roots of any finite system of exponential sums in the space $\mathbb{C}^n$ is called an exponential variety. We define the intersection index of varieties of complementary dimensions, and the ring of classes of numerical equivalence of exponential varieties with operations "addition-union" and "multiplication-intersection". This ring is analogous to the ring of conditions of the torus $(\mathbb{C}\setminus 0)^n$ and is called the ring of conditions of $\mathbb{C}^n...

In this book we describe an approach through toric geometry to the following problem: "estimate the number (counted with appropriate multiplicity) of isolated solutions of n polynomial equations in n variables over an algebraically closed field k." The outcome of this approach is the number of solutions for "generic" systems in terms of their "Newton polytopes," and an explicit characterization of what makes a system "generic." The pioneering work in this field was done in th...

In this article we define and study convex bodies associated to linear series of adelic divisors over quasi-projective varieties that have been introduced recently by Xinyi Yuan and Shou-Wu Zhang. Restricting our attention to big adelic divisors, we deduce properties of volumes obtained by Yuan and Zhang using different convex geometric arguments. We go on to define augmented base loci and restricted volumes of adelic divisors following the works of Michael Nakamaye and devel...