Lower bounds on the rank and symmetric rank of real tensors

Abstract

We lower bound the rank of a tensor by a linear combination of the ranks of three of its unfoldings, using Sylvester's rank inequality. In a similar way, we lower bound the symmetric rank by a linear combination of the symmetric ranks of three unfoldings. Lower bounds on the rank and symmetric rank of tensors are important for finding counterexamples to Comon's conjecture. A real counterexample to Comon's conjecture is a tensor whose real rank and real symmetric rank differ. Previously, only one real counterexample was known, constructed in a paper of Shitov. We divide the construction into three steps. The first step involves linear spaces of binary tensors. The second step considers a linear space of larger decomposable tensors. The third step is to verify a conjecture that lower bounds the symmetric rank, on a tensor of interest. We use the construction to build an order six real tensor whose real rank and real symmetric rank differ.