Spring 2025
Math 666: Real Algebraic Geometry for Applications


Instructor: Frank Sottile
  Office: Blocker 601L
Email: sottile"at"math.tamu.edu
WWW: https://franksottile.github.io/
Office Hours: TBA.
Seminars on Monday and Fridays Geometry (MF) and
Algebra and Combinatorics (F)  
are a good venue for catching faculty members, including Frank.
Content:
    Real algebraic geometry is a fundamental input for many applications of algebraic geometry. Its goals and methods are also distinct from classical algebraic geometry. I expect to cover topics such as real solutions to systems of equations, including upper and lower bounds, positivity and sums of squares, real toric varieties, and non-standard real structures.

    This would be based on parts of my book "Real solutions to Equations from Geometry", two chapters in Theobald's book "Real Algebraic Geometry and Optimization", as well as papers and other sources. The expected background is a graduate course in algebra, possibly concurrent.
Lectures:    Tu & Θ: 11:10—12:25. Blocker 628.
Sources: More:
Course webpage: https://franksottile.github.io/teaching/25.1/RAGA.html
Schedule of Presentations. Blocker 628 Tuesday April 29 10:30-13:00 and Wednesday April 30 9-11
Tuesday 29 April
  • 10:30—11:00   Hilbert's 1888 Theorem on positivity and sums of squares. John Ajayi and Marleigh Purgar-Mcdonald
  • 11:10—11:40   Lax's discriminant of a symmetric matrix is a sum of squares.     Pooja Joshi and Zeytoon Kazemimoghaddam
  • 11:50—12:20
  • 12:30—13:00   A counterexample to the strong real Jacobian Conjecture.     Kevin Le and Jonah Robinson
Wednesday 30 April
  • 9:00—9:30   Newton-Okounkov bodies of chemical reaction systems. (by Obatake and Walker).     Paul Dessauer and Jordy Lopez.
  • 9:40—10:10  Sums of squares and minimal varieties.     Somak Dutta and Ruzho Sagayaraj.
  • 10:20—10:50   Hilbert's 17th problem.     Ozan Acikgoz Qi Xiao.
Presentations:
Hilbert's 1888 Theorem on positivity and sums of squares. John Ajayi and Marleigh Purgar-Mcdonald
Lax's discriminant of a symmetric matrix is a sum of squares.     Pooja Joshi and Zeytoon Kazemimoghaddam.
by Obatake and Walker.     Jordy Lopez and Paul Dessauer.
Hilbert's 17th problem.     Ozan Acikgoz Qi Xiao
The Shapiro Conjecture and the Wronski map.     C.J. Bott and Daniel Dale
A counterexample to the strong real Jacobian Conjecture.     Kevin Le and Jonah Robinson.
Sums of squares and minimal varieties.     Somak Dutta and Ruzho Sagayaraj.

Course Outline:


Grading
We will have final projects on topics related to your research interests and the course material. These will be presented at the end of the semester (28–30 April, to be scheduled).

Last modified: Tue Mar 18 10:16:57 CDT 2025 by sottile