English

The Smith form of Sylvester and B\'ezout matrices for zero-dimensional ideals

Commutative Algebra 2025-12-17 v2 Algebraic Geometry

Abstract

Let K\mathbb{K} be a field and let f,gK[x,y]f,g \in \mathbb{K}[x,y] be such that the ideal f,g\langle f,g \rangle is zero-dimensional. We study the Sylvester and B\'{e}zout resultant polynomial matrices, built by interpreting ff and gg as univariate polynomials in xx with coefficients in K[y]\mathbb{K}[y]. We characterize their Smith forms over K[y]\mathbb{K}[y] in terms of the dual spaces of differential operators, that were defined and studied by H. M. M\"{o}ller et al. In particular, if K\mathbb{K} is algebraically closed we show that, if the leading coefficients of ff and gg are coprime over K[y]\mathbb{K}[y], then the partial multiplicities of the Sylvester and B\'{e}zout resultant matrices coincide with certain integers, that we call M\"{o}ller indices. These indices are uniquely determined by f,g\langle f,g \rangle, and can be easily computed from a Gauss basis, as defined in [M. G. Marinari, H. M. M\"{o}ller, T. Mora, Trans. Amer. Math. Soc. 348(8):3283--3321, 1996], of the dual spaces. We then generalize this result to the case of common factors in the leading coefficients, which correspond to intersections at x=x=\infty, again describing all the invariant factors of Sylvester and B\'{e}zout resultant matrices. As a corollary, this fully characterizes the algebraic multiplicity of all the roots of the resultant Resx(f,g)K[y]\mathrm{Res}_x(f,g) \in \mathbb{K}[y] in terms of the intersection multiplicities for ff and gg, including those arising from infinite intersections. We discuss both algebraic and computational implications of our results.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2512.08550,
  title  = {The Smith form of Sylvester and B\'ezout matrices for zero-dimensional ideals},
  author = {Etna Lindy and Vanni Noferini},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2512.08550},
  year   = {2025}
}