Invariant equations defining coincident root loci

Let F(x) = xⁿ+₁ x^n-1+₂ x^n-2+ ··· +_n be a polynomial with complex coefficients, and suppose we are given a partition (₁,...,_r) of n. It is a classical problem to determine explicit algebraic conditions on the _i so that F may have roots with multiplicities ₁,...,_r. We give an invariant theoretic solution to this problem, to wit, we exhibit a set of covariants of F whose vanishing is a necessary and sufficient condition. The construction of such covariants is combinatorial, and involves associating a set of graphs on n vertices (called decisive graphs) to each .Received: 28 September 2003