On the strong separation conjecture

Abstract

This paper contains a partial result on the Pierce--Birkhoff conjecture on piece-wise polynomial functions defined by a finite collection {f 1,. .., f r} of polynomials. In the nineteen eighties, generalizing the problem from the polynomial ring to an artibtrary ring $\Sigma$, J. Madden proved that the Pierce--Birkhoff conjecture for $\Sigma$ is equivalent to a statement about an arbitrary pair of points $\alpha$, $\beta$ $\in$ Sper $\Sigma$ and their separating ideal < $\alpha$, $\beta$ >, we refer to this statement as the local Pierce-Birkhoff conjecture at $\alpha$, $\beta$. In [8] we introduced a slightly stronger conjecture, also stated for a pair of points $\alpha$, $\beta$ $\in$ Sper $\Sigma$ and the separating ideal < $\alpha$, $\beta$ >, called the Connectedness conjecture, about a finite collection of elements {f 1, . . ., fr} $\subset$ $\Sigma$. In the paper [10] we introduced a new conjecture, called the Strong Connectednessconjecture, and proved that the Strong Connectedness conjecture in dimension n--1 implies the Strong Connectedness conjecture in dimension n in the case when ht(< $\alpha$, $\beta$ >) $\le$ n -- 1.The Pierce-Birkhoff Conjecture for r = 2 is equivalent to the Connectedness Conjecture for r = 1, this conjecture is called the Separation Conjecture. The Strong Connectedness Conjecture for r = 1 is called the Strong Separation Conjecture. In the present paper, we fix a polynomial f $\in$ R[x, z] where R is a real closed field and x = (x1, . . ., xn), z are n + 1 independent variables. We define the notion of two points $\alpha$, $\beta$ $\in$ Sper R[x, z] being in good position with respect to f. The main result of this paper is a proof of the Strong Separation Conjecture in the case when $\alpha$ and $\beta$ are in good position with respect to f.