Sums of squares in polynomial time

Abstract

In this paper, we analyze the bit complexity of deciding whether a given polynomial can be represented as a sum of squares of polynomials. We show that the weak membership problem for the sum-of-squares cone lies in $\mathrm{P}$. Furthermore, we give a polynomial-time algorithm which computes, for a given polynomial and positive parameter $ε$, an $ε$-relaxed closest sum-of-squares polynomial.