Let G be a finite group acting linearly on R n . A celebrated Theorem of Procesi and Schwarz gives an explicit description of the orbit space R n / / G as a basic closed semi-algebraic set. We give a new proof of this statement and another description as a basic closed semi-algebraic set using elementary tools from real algebraic geometry. Bröcker was able to show that the number of inequalities needed to describe the orbit space generically depends only on the group G . Here, we construct such inequalities explicitly for abelian groups and in the case where only one inequality is needed. Furthermore, we answer an open question raised by Bröcker concerning the genericity of his result.

The classes of sums of arithmetic-geometric exponentials (SAGE) and of sums of nonnegative circuit polynomials (SONC) provide nonnegativity certificates which are based on the inequality of the arithmetic and geometric means. We study the cones of symmetric SAGE and SONC forms and their relations to the underlying symmetric nonnegative cone. As main results, we provide several symmetric cases where the SAGE or SONC property coincides with nonnegativity and we present quantitative results on the differences in various situations. The results rely on characterizations of the zeroes and the minimizers for symmetric SAGE and SONC forms, which we develop. Finally, we also study symmetric monomial mean inequalities and apply SONC certificates to establish a generalized version of Muirhead's inequality.

Lattices (discrete subgroups of n-dimensional Euclidean spaces) are ubiquitous objects in mathematics.

An ideal of polynomials is symmetric if it is closed under permutations of variables. We relate general symmetric ideals to the so called Specht ideals generated by all Specht polynomials of a given shape. We show a connection between the leading monomials of polynomials in the ideal and the Specht polynomials contained in the ideal. This provides applications in several contexts. Most notably, this connection gives information about the solutions of the corresponding set of equations. From another perspective, it restricts the isotypic decomposition of the ideal viewed as a representation of the symmetric group.