Tensors: Geometry and Applications

Abstract

Tensors are ubiquitous in the sciences. The geometry of tensors is both a powerful tool for extracting information from data sets, and a beautiful subject in its own right. This book has three intended uses: a classroom textbook, a reference work for researchers in the sciences, and an account of classical and modern results in (aspects of) the theory that will be of interest to researchers in geometry. For classroom use, there is a modern introduction to multilinear algebra and to the geometry and representation theory needed to study tensors, including a large number of exercises. For researchers in the sciences, there is information on tensors in table format for easy reference and a summary of the state of the art in elementary language. This is the first book containing many classical results regarding tensors. Particular applications treated in the book include the complexity of matrix multiplication, $\mathbf{P}$ versus $\mathbf{NP}$, signal processing, phylogenetics, and algebraic statistics. For geometers, there is material on secant varieties, $G$-varieties, spaces with finitely many orbits and how these objects arise in applications, discussions of numerous open questions in geometry arising in applications, and expositions of advanced topics such as the proof of the Alexander-Hirschowitz theorem and of the Weyman-Kempf method for computing syzygies.