Invariant Theory: a Third Lease of Life

Abstract

In 1993, just about a century after the epoch of Classical Invariant Theory and almost 30 years after Mumford's seminal book on Geometric Invariant Theory, Bernd Sturmfels approached the subject from a new, algorithmic perspective in his book on Algorithms in Invariant Theory. This article aims to highlight some of the developments that followed the book. Inspired by Bernd's style of teaching mathematics, the goal is neither comprehensiveness nor maximal generality, but to emphasize the main ideas and to convey the beauty of the subject. The article is intended as an invitation to invariant theory, and in particular to Bernd's work and the ideas inspired by it.