Sums of even powers of polynomials

Abstract

We show that the higher Pythagoras numbers for the polynomial ring are infinite $p_{2s}(K[x_1,x_2,\dots,x_n])=\infty$ provided that $K$ is a real field, $n\geq2$ and $s\geq 1$. This almost fully solves an old question [16, Problem 8]. Moreover, we study in detail the cone of binary octics that are sums of fourth powers of quadratic forms. We determine its facial structure as well as its algebraic boundary. This can also be seen as sums of fourth powers of linear forms on the second Veronese of $\mathbb{P}^1$. As a result, we disprove a conjecture of Reznick [38, Conjecture 7.1].