A Weierstrass-type theorem for homogeneous polynomials

Abstract

By the celebrated Weierstrass Theorem the set of algebraic polynomials is dense in the space of continuous functions on a compact set in ℝ d . In this paper we study the following question: does the density hold if we approximate only by homogeneous polynomials? Since the set of homogeneous polynomials is nonlinear, this leads to a nontrivial problem. It is easy to see that: 1) density may hold only on star-like O-symmetric surfaces; 2) at least 2 homogeneous polynomials are needed for approximation. The most interesting special case of a star-like surface is a convex surface. It has been conjectured by the second author that functions continuous on O-symmetric convex surfaces in ℝ d can be approximated by sums of 2 homogeneous polynomials. This conjecture has not yet been resolved, but we make substantial progress towards its positive settlement. In particular, it is shown in the present paper that the above conjecture holds for 1) d = 2; 2) convex surfaces in ℝ d with C 1+∈ boundary. © 2008 American Mathematical Society.