Mathematics Colloquia and Seminars

Return to Colloquia & Seminar listing

Powers of Linear Forms

Algebra & Discrete Mathematics

Speaker: Bernd Sturmfels, UC Berkeley, Mathematics
Location: 2112 MSB
Start time: Fri, Feb 20 2009, 2:10PM

What is the dimension of the space of polynomials of a certain degree that are annihilated by certain powers of fixed vector fields? We obtain explicit formulas by computing sagbi bases of Cox-Nagata rings. They count the number of lattice points in certain polytopes derived from root systems. For del Pezzo surfaces, Cox-Nagata rings are presented by quadratic polynomials, and, for the blow-up of projective n-space at n+3 points, this involves a beautiful connection between the Verlinde formula and phylogenetic algebraic geometry. This is joint work with Zhiqiang Xu.

Paper: arXiv:0803.0892