The Higher Transvectants are Redundant

Abstract

Let A, B denote generic binary forms, and let u_r = (A,B)_r denote their r-th transvectant in the sense of classical invariant theory. In this paper we classify all the quadratic syzygies between the u_r. As a consequence, we show that each of the higher transvectants u_r, r>1, is redundant in the sense that it can be completely recovered from u_0 and u_1. This result can be geometrically interpreted in terms of the incomplete Segre imbedding. The calculations rely upon the Cauchy exact sequence of SL_2-representations, and the notion of a 9-j symbol from the quantum theory of angular momentum. We give explicit computational examples for SL_3, g_2 and S_5 to show that this result has possible analogues for other categories of representations.