The Galois-width conjecture for determinantal maximum-likelihood covers

From papers

Let Xm,n,rX_{m,n,r} and Ym,n,rY_{m,n,r} denote the corresponding rectangular determinantal varieties and their dual varieties, and let Zn,rZ_{n,r} be the symmetric determinantal variety defined by the rank condition in the preceding setup. Write gw(π)\operatorname{gw}(\pi) for the Galois width of a branched cover π\pi, and ML(V)\operatorname{ML}(V) for the maximum-likelihood degree of a variety VV. For integers 1rnm1\le r\le n\le m, the conjecture asserts

Galois-width conjecture.

gw(πLXm,n,r)={ML(Ym,n,r)/2if n is odd and r=(n+1)/2,ML(Ym,n,r)otherwise,\operatorname{gw}\left(\pi_{\mathcal{L}_{X_{m,n,r}}}\right)= \begin{cases} \operatorname{ML}(Y_{m,n,r})/2 & \text{if } n \text{ is odd and } r=(n+1)/2,\\ \operatorname{ML}(Y_{m,n,r}) & \text{otherwise,} \end{cases}

and

gw(πLZn,r)={ML(Zn,r)/2if n is odd and r=(n+1)/2,ML(Zn,r)otherwise.\operatorname{gw}\left(\pi_{\mathcal{L}_{Z_{n,r}}}\right)= \begin{cases} \operatorname{ML}(Z_{n,r})/2 & \text{if } n \text{ is odd and } r=(n+1)/2,\\ \operatorname{ML}(Z_{n,r}) & \text{otherwise.} \end{cases}

The conjecture predicts that the known order-two duality accounts for exactly the only systematic reduction of Galois width from maximum-likelihood degree in the stated families. The supplied text does not establish the general formulas or give evidence resolving them.

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Sources & referencesView supporting material

Primary source

Timothy Duff, “A Galois-Theoretic Complexity Measure for Solving Systems of Algebraic Equations”, arXiv:2503.17884 (2025).

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