We study the critical points of the likelihood function over the Fermat hypersurface. This problem is related to one of the main problems in statistical optimization: maximum likelihood estimation. The number of critical points over a projective variety is a topological invariant of the variety and is called maximum likelihood degree. We provide closed formulas for the maximum likelihood degree of any Fermat curve in the projective plane and of Fermat hypersurfaces of degree 2 in any projective space. Algorithmic methods to compute the ML degree of a generic Fermat hypersurface are developed throughout the paper. Such algorithms heavily exploit the symmetries of the varieties we are considering. A computational comparison of the different methods and a list of the maximum likelihood degrees of several Fermat hypersurfaces are available in the last section.
We study the maximum likelihood degree (ML degree) of toric varieties, known as discrete exponential models in statistics. By introducing scaling coefficients to the monomial parameterization of the toric variety, one can change the ML degree. We show that the ML degree is equal to the degree of the toric variety for generic scalings, while it drops if and only if the scaling vector is in the locus of the principal $A$-determinant. We also illustrate how to compute the ML estimate of a toric variety numerically via homotopy continuation from a scaled toric variety with low ML degree. Throughout, we include examples motivated by algebraic geometry and statistics. We compute the ML degree of rational normal scrolls and a large class of Veronese-type varieties. In addition, we investigate the ML degree of scaled Segre varieties, hierarchical loglinear models, and graphical models.
We consider a Fermat curve $F_n:x^n+y^n+z^n=1$ over an algebraically closed field $k$ of characteristic $pgeq0$ and study the action of the automorphism group $G=left(mathbb{Z}/nmathbb{Z}timesmathbb{Z}/nmathbb{Z}right)rtimes S_3$ on the canonical ring $R=bigoplus H^0(F_n,Omega_{F_n}^{otimes m})$ when $p>3$, $p mid n$ and $n-1$ is not a power of $p$. In particular, we explicitly determine the classes $[H^0(F_n,Omega_{F_n}^{otimes m})]$ in the Grothendieck group $K_0(G,k)$ of finitely generated $k[G]$-modules, describe the respective equivariant Hilbert series $H_{R,G}(t)$ as a rational function, and use our results to write a program in Sage that computes $H_{R,G}(t)$ for an arbitrary Fermat curve.
In this note we look at the freeness for complex affine hypersurfaces. If $X subset mathbb{C}^n$ is such a hypersurface, and $D$ denotes the associated projective hypersurface, obtained by taking the closure of $X$ in $mathbb{P}^n$, then we relate first the Jacobian syzygies of $D$ and those of $X$. Then we introduce two types of freeness for an affine hypersurface $X$, and prove various relations between them and the freeness of the projective hypersurface $D$. We write down a proof of the folklore result saying that an affine hypersurface is free if and only if all of its singularities are free, in the sense of K. Saitos definition in the local setting. In particular, smooth affine hypersurfaces and affine plane curves are always free. Some other results, involving global Tjurina numbers and minimal degrees of non trivial syzygies are also explored.
Here we prove that the Hilbert-Kunz mulitiplicity of a quadric hypersurface of dimension $d$ and odd characteristic $pgeq 2d-4$ is bounded below by $1+m_d$, where $m_d$ is the $d^{th}$ coefficient in the expansion of $mbox{sec}+mbox{tan}$. This proves a part of the long standing conjecture of Watanabe-Yoshida. We also give an upper bound on the HK multiplicity of such a hypersurface. We approach the question using the HK density function and the classification of ACM bundles on the smooth quadrics via matrix factorizations.
We study the variation of linear sections of hypersurfaces in $mathbb{P}^n$. We completely classify all plane curves, necessarily singular, whose line sections do not vary maximally in moduli. In higher dimensions, we prove that the family of hyperplane sections of any smooth degree $d$ hypersurface in $mathbb{P}^n$ vary maximally for $d geq n+3$. In the process, we generalize the classical Grauert-Mulich theorem about lines in projective space, both to $k$-planes in projective space and to free rational curves on arbitrary varieties.