We establish basic techniques for studying 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.
We give an almost asymptotically sharp bound for the non secant defectiveness and identifiability of Segre-Veronese varieties. We also provide new examples of defective Segre-Veronese varieties.
We prove the existence of defective secant varieties of three-factor and four-factor Segre-Veronese varieties embedded in certain multi-degree. These defective secant varieties were previously unknown and are of importance in the classification of defective secant varieties of Segre-Veronese varieties with three or more factors.
We determine set theoretic defining equations for the third secant variety of the Segre product of $n$ projective spaces, and from the proof of the main statement we derive an upper bound for the degrees of these equations.
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 $\pp{63}$ where we show the ideal is generated in degree four. We also discuss the coordinate rings of secant varieties of compact Hermitian symmetric spaces.
We define many new examples of modules of equations for secant varieties of Segre varieties that generalize Strassen's commutation equations. Our modules of equations are obtained by constructing subspaces of matrices from tensors that satisfy various commutation properties.
This paper studies the defectivity of secant varieties of Segre varieties. We prove that there exists an asymptotic lower estimate for the greater non-defective secant variety (without filling the ambient space) of any given Segre variety. In particular, we prove that the ratio between the greater non-defective secant variety of a Segre variety and its expected rank is lower bounded by a value depending just on the number of factors of the Segre variety. Moreover, in the final section, we present some results obtained by explicit computation, proving the non-defectivity of all the secant varie…
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 s-th S…
This paper studies the dimension of secant varieties to Segre varieties. The problem is cast both in the setting of tensor algebra and in the setting of algebraic geometry. An inductive procedure is built around the ideas of successive specializations of points and projections. This reduces the calculation of the dimension of the secant variety in a high dimensional case to a sequence of calculations of partial secant varieties in low dimensional cases. As applications of the technique: We give a complete classification of defective $t$-secant varieties to Segre varieties for t < 7. We general…
We study the secant variety of the spinor variety, focusing on its equations of degree three and four. We show that in type $D_n$, cubic equations exist if and only if $n\ge 9$. In general the ideal has generators in degrees at least three and four. Finally we observe that the other Freudenthal varieties exhibit strikingly similar behaviors.
We find generators for the ideals of secant varieties of Segre varieties in several the cases including the Garcia-Stillmann-Ssturmfels conjecture for four factors and prove results about their singularities.
We describe a computational proof that the fifth secant variety of the Segre product of five copies of the projective line is a codimension 2 complete intersection of equations of degree 6 and 16. Our computations rely on pseudo-randomness, and numerical accuracy, so parts of our proof are only valid "with high probability".
Let $X_{m,n}$ be the Segre-Veronese variety $\mathbb{P}^m \times \mathbb{P}^n$ embedded by the morphism given by $\mathcal{O}(1,2)$. In this paper, we provide two functions $\underline{s}(m,n)\le \bar{s}(m,n)$ such that the $s^{\mathrm{th}}$ secant variety of $X_{m,n}$ has the expected dimension if $s \leq \underline{s}(m,n)$ or $ \bar{s}(m,n) \leq s$. We also present a conjecturally complete list of defective secant varieties of such Segre-Veronese varieties.
We completely describe the higher secant dimensions of all connected homogeneous projective varieties of dimension at most 3, in all possible equivariant embeddings. In particular, we calculate these dimensions for all Segre-Veronese embeddings of P^1 * P^1, P^1 * P^1 * P^1, and P^2 * P^1, as well as for the variety F of incident point-line pairs in P^2. For P^2 * P^1 and F the results are new, while the proofs for the other two varieties are more compact than existing proofs. Our main tool is the second author's tropical approach to secant dimensions.
We study the dimension of the higher secant varieties $X^s$ of ${\Bbb X} = {\Bbb P}^{n_1}\times ...\times {\Bbb P}^{n_t}$ embedded the morphism given by ${\cal O}_{\Bbb X}({a_1,...,a_t})$. We call it a {\it Segre-Veronese variety} and the embedding a {\it Segre-Veronese embedding}. In several cases (e.g. for 3 factors {\Bbb P}^{1}, or when $s$ is small) we show that $X^s$ has the expected dimension except for a few cases. A list of examples of defective $X^s$'s is given.
We prove that the ideal of the variety of secant lines to a Segre--Veronese variety is generated in degree three by minors of flattenings. In the special case of a Segre variety this was conjectured by Garcia, Stillman and Sturmfels, inspired by work on algebraic statistics, as well as by Pachter and Sturmfels, inspired by work on phylogenetic inference. In addition, we describe the decomposition of the coordinate ring of the secant line variety of a Segre--Veronese variety into a sum of irreducible representations under the natural action of a product of general linear groups.
Motivated by the study of the secant variety of the Segre-Veronese variety we propose a general framework to analyze properties of the secant varieties of toric embeddings of affine spaces defined by simplicial complexes. We prove that every such secant is toric, which gives a way to use combinatorial tools to study singularities. We focus on the Segre-Veronese variety for which we completely classify their secants that give Gorenstein or $\mathbb Q$-Gorenstein varieties. We conclude providing the explicit description of the singular locus.
Let $SV^{\pmb n}_{\pmb d}$ be the Segre-Veronese given as the image of the embedding induced by the line bundle $\mathcal{O}_{\mathbb{P}^{n_1}\times\dots\times\mathbb{P}^{n_r}}(d_1,\dots, d_r)$. We prove that asymptotically $SV^{\pmb n}_{\pmb d}$ is not $h$-defective for $h\leq n_1^{\lfloor \log_2(d-1)\rfloor}$.
When present, the Cohen-Macaulay property can be useful for finding the minimal defining equations of an algebraic variety. It is conjectured that all secant varieties of Segre products of projective spaces are arithmetically Cohen-Macaulay. A summary of the known cases where the conjecture is true is given. An inductive procedure based on the work of Landsberg and Weyman (LW-lifting) is described and used to obtain resolutions of orbits of secant varieties from those of smaller secant varieties. A new computation of the minimal free resolution of the variety of border rank 4 tensors of format…
The secant varieties of Severi varieties provide special examples of (singular) cubic hypersurfaces. An interesting question asks when a given cubic hypersurface is projectively equivalent to a secant cubic hypersurface. Inspired by the ''geometric'' Torelli theorem for smooth cubic hypersurfaces due to F. Charles, we study the geometry of lines on secant cubics and describe the Fano variety of lines. Then we verify the ''geometric'' Torelli theorem for the case of secant cubics. Namely, a cubic hypersurface is isomorphic to a secant cubic if and only if their Fano varieties of lines are isomo…
In this paper we prove some general results on secant defective varieties. Then we focus on the 4--dimensional case and we give the full classification of secant defective 4--folds. This paper has been inspired by classical work by G. Scorza,
We give an upper bound for the rank of the border rank 3 partially symmetric tensors. In the special case of border rank 3 tensors $T\in V_1\otimes \cdots \otimes V_k$ (Segre case) we can show that all ranks among 3 and $k-1$ arise and if $\dim V_i \geq 3$ for all $i$'s, then also all the ranks between $k$ and $2k-1$ arise.
The ring of invariant polynomials ${\mathbb C}[V]^G$ over a given finite dimensional representation space $V$ of a complex reductive group $G$ is known, by a famous theorem of Hilbert, to be finitely generated. The general proof being nonconstructive, the generators and their degrees have remained a subject of interest. In this article we determine certain divisors of the degrees of the generators. Also, for irreducible representations, we provide lower bounds for the degrees, determined by the geometric properties of the unique closed projective $G$-orbit $\mathbb X$, and more specifically it…
We generalize the classical Terracini's Lemma to higher order osculating spaces to secant varieties. As an application, we address with the so-called Horace method the case of the $d$-Veronese embedding of the projective 3-space.
In many cases (e.g. for many Segre or Segre embeddings of multiprojective spaces) we prove that a hypersurface of the $b$-secant variety of $X\subset \mathbb {P}^r$ has $X$-rank $>b$. We prove it proving that the $X$-rank of a general point of the join of $b-2$ copies of $X$ and the tangential variety of $X$ is $>b$.
We generalize Zak's theorems on tangencies and on linear normality as well as Zak's definition and classification of Severi varieties. In particular we find sharp lower bounds for the dimension of higher secant varieties of a given variety X under suitable regularity assumption on X, and we classify varieties for which the bound is attained.
We investigate the secant dimensions and the identifiablity of flag varieties parametrizing flag of sub vector spaces 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.
We show that the linear syzygy spaces of elliptic normal curves, their secant varieties and of bielliptic canonical curves are spanned by geometric syzygies.
In this paper we discuss the dimensions of the (higher) secant varieties to the Grassmann varieties, embedded via the Plucker embeddings. We use Terracini's Lemma and the duality in the exterior algebra of a finite dimensional vector space to translate the problem into that of finding the dimension of a graded piece of a " fat" ideal in the exterior algebra. Among other things, our methods prove that (apart from the chordal varieties to the Grassmannians of lines) all the chordal varieties of Grassmannians have the expected dimension. We also discuss some Grassmannians with deficient secant va…
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 o…
We try to write (generic) elements of classical simple Lie algebras as sums of as few elements of the orbit C of long root vectors as possible. If the Lie algebra in question is sl_n or sp_n, then C consists of all rank 1 matrices in the Lie algebra, and an element of rank k is the sum of k elements of C. If, on the other hand, the Lie algebra is o_n, then C consists of all rank 2 matrices with square zero, and the situation is much more complicated. We explicitly describe, in this case as well, the closure of the set of all sums of k elements of C, also known as the (k-1)st secant variety of …
We consider the varieties $O_{k,n.d}$ of the k-osculating spaces to the Veronese varieties, the $d-$uple embeddings of $\PP n$; we study the dimension of their higher secant varieties. Via inverse systems (apolarity) and the study of certain spaces of forms we are able, in several cases, to determine whether those secant varieties are defective or not.
The Chow variety of polynomials that decompose as a product of linear forms has been studied for more than 100 years. Finding equations in the ideal of secant varieties of Chow varieties would enable one to measure the complexity the permanent to prove Valiant's conjecture $\mathbf{VP\neq VNP}$. In this article, I use the method of prolongation to obtain equations for secant varieties of Chow varieties as $GL(V)$-modules.
It is shown that an irreducible cubic hypersurface with nonzero Hessian and smooth singular locus is the secant variety of a Severi variety if and only if its Lie algebra of infinitesimal linear automorphisms admits a nonzero prolongation.
In this paper, we show that the secant variety to a smooth projective variety embedded by a sufficiently positive line bundle is normal. As an application, we deduce that the secant variety to a general canonical curve of genus at least 7 is normal.
We study the projective behavior, mainly with respect to osculating spaces and secant varieties, of Lagrangian Grassmannians and Spinor varieties. We prove that these varieties have osculating dimension smaller than expected. Furthermore, we give numerical conditions ensuring the non secant defectivity of Lagrangian Grassmannians in their Plücker embedding and of Spinor varieties in both their Plücker and Spinor embeddings.
The Castelnuovo-Mumford regularity of varieties of degree r and dimension n in the r-dimensional projective space that have an extremal secant line, is at least d-r+n+1. We classify these varieties and show that their regularity is exactly d-r+n+1, as predicted by the regularity conjecture.
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 homoge…
Each Scorza variety and its secant varieties in the ambient projective space are identified, in the realm of singular Poisson-Kaehler 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 Kaehler 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 S…
We study the singularities of the secant variety $Σ(X,L)$ associated to a smooth variety $X$ embedded by a sufficiently positive adjoint bundle $L$. We show that $Σ(X,L)$ is always Du Bois singular. Examples of secant varieties with worse singularities when $L$ has weak positivity are provided. We also give a necessary and sufficient condition for $Σ(X, L)$ to have rational singularities.
We define new classes of modules of equations for secant varieties of Veronese varieties using representation theory and geometry. We also revisit some old modules of equations (catalecticant minors) to determine when they are sufficient to give scheme-theoretic defining equations.
Let $S_h$ be the even pure spinors variety of a complex vector space $V$ of even dimension $2h$ endowed with a non degenerate quadratic form $Q$ and let $σ_k(S_h) $ be the $k$-secant variety of $S_h$. We decribe a probabilistic algorithm which computes the complex dimension of $σ_k(S_h) $. Then, by using an inductive argument, we get our main result: $σ_3(S_h) $ has the expected dimension except when $h\in \{7,8\} $. Also we provide theoretical arguments which prove that $S_7$ has a defective 3-secant variety and $S_8$ has defective 3-secant and 4-secant varieties.
Cactus varieties are a generalization of secant varieties. They are defined using linear spans of arbitrary finite schemes of bounded length, while secant varieties use only isolated reduced points. In particular, any secant variety is always contained in the respective cactus variety, and, except in a few initial cases, the inclusion is strict. It is known that lots of natural criteria that test membership in secant varieties are actually only tests for membership in cactus varieties. In this article, we propose the first techniques to distinguish actual secant variety from the cactus variety…
The aim of this paper is to provide another perspective on secant varieties on algebraic curves by reformulating the problem in terms of refined de Jonquières divisors, that is divisors on the curve with prescribed multiplicities and dimensions of their spaces of global sections. We are able to both recover some already known results and to obtain some new statements concerning the dimension theory of secant varieties. We do this via the study of the dimension theory of refined de Jonquières divisors in some relevant cases and degeneration arguments.
In this paper we study the higher secant varieties of Grassmann varieties in relation to Waring's problem for alternating tensors and to Alexander-Hirschowitz theorem. We show how to identify defective higher secant varieties of Grassmannians using a probabilistic method involving Terracini's Lemma, and we describe an algorithm which can compute, by numerical methods, dim(G(k,n)^{s}) for n<=14. Our main result is that, except for Grassmannians of lines, if n<=14 and k<=(n-1)/2 (if n=14 we have studied the case k<=5) there are only the four known defective cases: G(2,6)^{3}, G(3,7)^{3}, G(3,7)^…
We describe the defining ideal of the rth secant variety of P^2 x P^n embedded by O(1,2), for arbitrary n and r at most 5. We also present the Schur module decomposition of the space of generators of each such ideal. Our main results are based on a more general construction for producing explicit matrix equations that vanish on secant varieties of products of projective spaces. This extends previous work of Strassen and Ottaviani.
We prove that a product of $m>5$ copies of $\PP^1$, embedded in the projective space $\PP^r$ by the standard Segre embedding, is $k$-identifiable (i.e. a general point of the secant variety $S^k(X)$ is contained in only one $(k+1)$-secant $k$-space), for all $k$ such that $k+1\leq 2^{m-1}/m$.
To each subvariety $X$ in projective $n$-space of codimension $m$ we associate an integer sequence of length $m + 1$ from $1$ to the degree of $X$ recording the maximal cardinalities of finite, reduced intersections of $X$ with linear subvarieties. We call this the sequence of secant indices of $X$. Similar numbers have been studied independently with the aim of classifying subvarieties with extremal secant spaces. Our focus in this note is the study of the combinatorial properties that the secant indices satisfy collectively. We show these sequences are strictly increasing for nondegenerate s…
For an irreducible projective variety X, we study the family of h-planes contained in the secant variety Sec_k(X), for 0<h<k. These families have an expected dimension and we study varieties for which the expected dimension is not attained; for these varieties, making general consecutive projections to lower dimensional spaces, we do not get the expected singularities. In particular, we examine the family G of lines sitting in 3-secant planes to a surface S. We show that the actual dimension of G is equal to the expected dimension unless S is a cone or a rational normal scroll of degree 4 in P…
