Geometric involutive bases for positive dimensional polynomial ideals and SDP methods

Abstract: Geometric involutive bases for polynomial systems of equations have their origin in the prolongation and projection methods of the geometers Cartan and Kuranishi for systems of PDE. They are useful for numerical ideal membership testing and the solution of polynomial systems. In this paper we further develop our symbolic-numeric methods for such bases. We give methods to explicitly extract and decrease the degree of intermediate systems and the output basis. Algorithms for the numerical computation of involutivity criteria for positive dimensional ideals are also discussed. We were also motivated by some remarkable recent work by Lasserre and collaborators who employed our prolongation projection involutive criteria as a part of their semi-definite based programming (SDP) method for identifying the real radical of zero dimensional polynomial ideals. Consequently in this paper we begin an exploration of the interaction between geometric involutive bases and these methods particularly in the positive dimensional case. Motivated by the extension of these methods to the positive dimensional case we explore the interplay between geometric involutive bases and the new SDP methods.