English

Small Counterexamples to the Gaussian Moments Conjecture

Probability 2026-07-20 v1 Commutative Algebra Algebraic Geometry

Abstract

We give explicit complex polynomials P,QP,Q in three independent standard real Gaussian variables such that E(Pm)=0,E(QPm)=m!0 {\mathbb E}(P^m)=0,\qquad {\mathbb E}(QP^m)=m!\neq0 for every m1m\geq1. In natural complex linear coordinates, PP has five terms and total degree 44. Hence the Gaussian Moments Conjecture is false in every dimension n3n\geq3. We also give a six-term cubic example in four variables, which was found first and already proves failure for every n4n\geq4. Both examples follow from the same coefficient identity. The search was prompted by Levent Alp\"oge's public announcement of an explicit three-dimensional counterexample to the Jacobian Conjecture. Although the main theorem of Derksen, van den Essen, and Zhao is stated globally in dimension, its proof has fixed-dimensional content: a noninvertible cubic-homogeneous Keller map in rr variables forces the failure of GMC(2r){\mathrm GMC}(2r). Tracking a standard Bass--Connell--Wright reduction of the announced map gives a conservative cubic-homogeneous counterexample in 7979 variables, and hence a route-based failure of GMC(158){\mathrm GMC}(158). That route is nonconstructive at the final Gaussian step and does not furnish explicit polynomials P,QP,Q. The much smaller explicit failures in dimensions 44 and 33 below were not derived from the announced Jacobian map.

Cite

@article{arxiv.2607.18186,
  title  = {Small Counterexamples to the Gaussian Moments Conjecture},
  author = {Christopher D. Long},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2607.18186},
  year   = {2026}
}

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9 pages, 0 figures