Algebraic certificates for the truncated moment problem

Abstract

The truncated moment problem consists of determining whether a given finitedimensional vector of real numbers y is obtained by integrating a basis of the vector space of polynomials of bounded degree with respect to a non-negative measure on a given set K of a finite-dimensional Euclidean space. This problem has plenty of applications e.g. in optimization, control theory and statistics. When K is a compact semialgebraic set, the duality between the cone of moments of non-negative measures on K and the cone of non-negative polynomials on K yields an alternative: either y is a moment vector, or y is not a moment vector, in which case there exists a polynomial strictly positive on K making a linear functional depending on y vanish. Such a polynomial is an algebraic certificate of moment unrepresentability. We study the complexity of computing such a certificate using computer algebra algorithms.