On the secant varieties to the tangential varieties of a Veronesean

We study the dimensions of the higher secant varieties to the tangent varieties of Veronese varieties. Our approach, generalizing that of Terracini, concerns 0-dimensional schemes which are the union of second infinitesimal neighbourhoods of generic points, each intersected with a generic double line.

We find the deficient secant line varieties for all the Veroneseans and all the deficient higher secant varieties for the quadratic Veroneseans. We conjecture that these are the only deficient secant varieties in this family and prove this up to secant projective 4-spaces.

     

Secant varieties of Grassmann varieties

We consider the dimensions of the higher secant varieties of the Grassmann varieties. We give new instances where these secant varieties have the expected dimension and also a new example where a higher secant variety does not.

     

On secant dimensions and identifiability of flag varieties

We investigate the secant dimensions and the identifiability of flag varieties parametrizing flags of subspaces of a fixed vector space. We give numerical conditions ensuring that secant varieties of flag varieties have the expected dimension, and that a general point on these secant varieties is identifiable.     

Three notions of tropical rank for symmetric matrices

We introduce and study three different notions of tropical rank for symmetric and dissimilarity matrices in terms of minimal decompositions into rank 1 symmetric matrices, star tree matrices, and tree matrices. Our results provide a close study of the tropical secant sets of certain nice tropical varieties, including the tropical Grassmannian. In particular, we determine the dimension of each secant set, the convex hull of the variety, and in most cases, the smallest secant set which is equal to the convex hull.     

On the dimensions of secant varieties of Segre-Veronese varieties

This paper explores the dimensions of higher secant varieties to Segre-Veronese varieties. The main goal of this paper is to introduce two different inductive techniques. These techniques enable one to reduce the computation of the dimension of the secant variety in a high-dimensional case to the computation of the dimensions of secant varieties in low-dimensional cases. As an application of these inductive approaches, we will prove non-defectivity of secant varieties of certain two-factor Segre-Veronese varieties. We also use these methods to give a complete classification of defective sth Segre–Veronese varieties for small s. In the final section, we propose a conjecture about defective two-factor Segre–Veronese varieties.     

Algebraic geometry of Gaussian Bayesian networks

Conditional independence models in the Gaussian case are algebraic varieties in the cone of positive definite covariance matrices. We study these varieties in the case of Bayesian networks, with a view towards generalizing the recursive factorization theorem to situations with hidden variables. In the case when the underlying graph is a tree, we show that the vanishing ideal of the model is generated by the conditional independence statements implied by graph. We also show that the ideal of any Bayesian network is homogeneous with respect to a multigrading induced by a collection of upstream random variables. This has a number of important consequences for hidden variable models. Finally, we relate the ideals of Bayesian networks to a number of classical constructions in algebraic geometry including toric degenerations of the Grassmannian, matrix Schubert varieties, and secant varieties.     

The recursive nature of cominuscule Schubert calculus

The necessary and sufficient Horn inequalities which determine the non-vanishing Littlewood-Richardson coefficients in the cohomology of a Grassmannian are recursive in that they are naturally indexed by non-vanishing Littlewood-Richardson coefficients on smaller Grassmannians. We show how non-vanishing in the Schubert calculus for cominuscule flag varieties is similarly recursive. For these varieties, the non-vanishing of products of Schubert classes is controlled by the non-vanishing products on smaller cominuscule flag varieties. In particular, we show that the lists of Schubert classes whose product is non-zero naturally correspond to the integer points in the feasibility polytope, which is defined by inequalities coming from non-vanishing products of Schubert classes on smaller cominuscule flag varieties. While the Grassmannian is cominuscule, our necessary and sufficient inequalities are different than the classical Horn inequalities.     

Dimensions of some affine Deligne-Lusztig varieties

This paper concerns the dimensions of certain affine Deligne-Lusztig varieties, both in the affine Grassmannian and in the affine flag manifold. Rapoport conjectured a formula for the dimensions of the varieties Xμ(b) in the affine Grassmannian. We prove his conjecture for b in the split torus; we find that these varieties are equidimensional; and we reduce the general conjecture to the case of superbasic b. In the affine flag manifold, we prove a formula that reduces the dimension question for Xx(b) with b in the split torus to computations of dimensions of intersections of Iwahori orbits with orbits of the unipotent radical. Calculations using this formula allow us to verify a conjecture of Reuman in many new cases, and to make progress toward a generalization of his conjecture.     

On the third secant variety

We determine normal forms and ranks of tensors of border rank at most three. We present a differential-geometric analysis of limits of secant planes in a more general context. In particular there are at most four types of points on limiting trisecant planes for cominuscule varieties such as Grassmannians. We also show that the singular locus of the secant varieties \(\sigma_{r}(\mathit{Seg}(\mathbb{P}^{n}\times\mathbb{P}^{m}\times \mathbb{P}^{q}))\) has codimension at least two for r=2,3.     

Tensor ranks on tangent developable of Segre varieties

We describe the stratification by tensor rank of the points belonging to the tangent developable of any Segre variety. We give algorithms to compute the rank and a decomposition of a tensor belonging to the secant variety of lines of any Segre variety. We prove Comon's conjecture on the rank of symmetric tensors for those tensors belonging to tangential varieties to Veronese varieties.     

On secant varieties of compact Hermitian symmetric spaces

We show that the secant varieties of rank three compact Hermitian symmetric spaces in their minimal homogeneous embeddings are normal, with rational singularities. We show that their ideals are generated in degree three—with one exception, the secant variety of the 21-dimensional spinor variety in P⁶³ where we show that the ideal is generated in degree four. We also discuss the coordinate rings of secant varieties of compact Hermitian symmetric spaces.     

Singular Poisson-Kähler geometry of Scorza varieties and their secant varieties

Each Scorza variety and its secant varieties in the ambient projective space are identified, in the realm of singular Poisson-Kähler geometry, in terms of projectivizations of holomorphic nilpotent orbits in suitable Lie algebras of hermitian type, the holomorphic nilpotent orbits, in turn, being affine varieties. The ambient projective space acquires an exotic Kähler structure, the closed stratum being the Scorza variety and the closures of the higher strata its secant varieties. In this fashion, the secant varieties become exotic projective varieties. In the rank 3 case, the four regular Scorza varieties coincide with the four critical Severi varieties. In the standard cases, the Scorza varieties and their secant varieties arise also via Kähler reduction. An interpretation in terms of constrained mechanical systems is included.     

On the Ideals of Secant Varieties of Segre Varieties

We establish basic techniques for determining the ideals of secant varieties of Segre varieties.We solve a conjecture of Garcia, Stillman, and Sturmfels on the generators of the ideal of the first secant variety in the case of three factors and solve the conjecture set-theoretically for an arbitrary number of factors. We determine the low degree components of the ideals of secant varieties of small dimension in a few cases.     

Secant varieties and birational geometry

We show how to use information about the equations defining secant varieties to smooth projective varieties in order to construct a natural collection of birational transformations. These were first constructed as flips in the case of curves by M. Thaddeus via Geometric Invariant Theory, and the first flip in the sequence was constructed by the author for varieties of arbitrary dimension in an earlier paper. We expose the finer structure of a second flip; again for varieties of arbitrary dimension. We also prove a result on the cubic generation of the secant variety and give some conjectures on the behavior of equations defining the higher secant varieties. Received: 29 November 1999; in final form: 4 September 2000 / Published online: 23 July 2001     

A tropical approach to secant dimensions

Tropical geometry yields good lower bounds, in terms of certain combinatorial-polyhedral optimisation problems, on the dimensions of secant varieties. The approach is especially successful for toric varieties such as Segre-Veronese embeddings. In particular, it gives an attractive pictorial proof of the theorem of Hirschowitz that all Veronese embeddings of the projective plane except for the quadratic one and the quartic one are non-defective; and indeed, no Segre-Veronese embeddings are known where the tropical lower bound does not give the correct dimension. Short self-contained introductions to secant varieties and the required tropical geometry are included.     

Singularities of the secant variety

We give positivity conditions on the embedding of a smooth variety which guarantee the normality of the secant variety, generalizing earlier results of the author and others. We also give classes of secant varieties satisfying the Hodge conjecture as well as a result on the singular locus of degenerate secant varieties.     

Foliations in deformation spaces of local G-shtukas

We study local G-shtukas with level structure over a base scheme whose Newton polygons are constant on the base. We show that after a finite base change and after passing to an étale covering, such a local G-shtuka is isogenous to a completely slope divisible one, generalizing corresponding results for p-divisible groups by Oort and Zink. As an application we establish a product structure up to finite surjective morphism on the closed Newton stratum of the universal deformation of a local G-shtuka, similarly to Oort?s foliations for p-divisible groups and abelian varieties. This also yields bounds on the dimensions of affine Deligne–Lusztig varieties and proves equidimensionality of affine Deligne–Lusztig varieties in the affine Grassmannian.     

Higher order secant varieties and blown up varieties

Let π:X→Y be the blowing up of the projective varietyY at s general points. Here we study the higher order secant varieties of the linearly normal embeddings ofX andY into projective spaces. We give conditions on the embedding ofY which imply that the firstt secant varieties of a related embedding ofX have the expected dimension.     

Equations for secant varieties of Veronese and other varieties

New classes of modules of equations for secant varieties of Veronese varieties are defined using representation theory and geometry. Some old modules of equations (catalecticant minors) are revisited to determine when they are sufficient to give scheme-theoretic defining equations. An algorithm to decompose a general ternary quintic as the sum of seven fifth powers is given as an illustration of our methods. Our new equations and results about them are put into a larger context by introducing vector bundle techniques for finding equations of secant varieties in general. We include a few homogeneous examples of this method.     

Combinatorial Aspects of the K-Theory of Grassmannians

In this paper we study Grothendieck polynomials indexed by Grassmannian permutations, which are representatives for the classes corresponding to the structure sheaves of Schubert varieties in the K-theory of Grassmannians. These Grothendieck polynomials are nonhomogeneous symmetric polynomials whose lowest homogeneous component is a Schur polynomial. Our treatment, which is closely related to the theory of Schur functions, gives new information about these polynomials. Our main results are concerned with the transition matrices between Grothendieck polynomials indexed by Grassmannian permutations and Schur polynomials on the one hand and a Pieri formula for these Grothendieck polynomials on the other.