Toric Varieties from Multiple Zeta Values

Abstract

The linear relations among fixed weight multiple zeta values (MZVs) are a well-studied subject in number theory. Elements of putative linear bases for this fixed-weight space are, however, not algebraically independent; they satisfy non-linear relations. We study these relations by approximating them through motivic MZVs, formal MZVs and numerical computations. We show that motivic MZVs in fixed weight span a projective toric variety and explore its geometry. We define an outer approximation to the variety of formal MZVs in fixed weight by introducing toric varieties coming from shuffle and stuffle relations and taking their intersection. We conjecture that this intersection in fact agrees with the variety of formal MZVs and hence conjecturally also with the variety of motivic MZVs. This leads to a novel conjecture on a generating set for the extended double shuffle relations, which we checked computationally up to weight $23$.