Lorentzian polynomials on cones and the Heron-Rota-Welsh conjecture (2110.00487v2)

Abstract: We give a short proof of the log-concavity of the coefficients of the reduced characteristic polynomial of a matroid. The proof uses an extension of the theory of Lorentzian polynomials to convex cones, and reproves the Hodge-Riemann relations of degree one for the Chow ring of a matroid.