# Monodromy

We're solving a system by monodromy

### The monodromy method

An alternative to using the solve function is solving a polynomial system $F=(f_1,\ldots,f_n)$ by monodromy. This approach is more efficient, but requires the user to provide at least one solution of $F=0$. Here is the basic idea:

Suppose $x$ is a solution $F(x)=0$ and that $F=F_{u_0}$ is a point in a family of polynomial systems $\mathcal{F}=\{F_u : u\in \mathbb{C}^k\}$ which is defined with $k\geq 1$ parameters. The monodromy method consists in moving around $u$ in a loop starting and ending at $u_0$ while tracking $x$ along that loop. After one iteration usually one has found a new solution $y\in \mathbb{C}^n$. This process then is repeated until some stopping criterion is fulfilled.

The general syntax for this is:

monodromy_solve(F, [x], u₀, parameters = u)


Here is a simple example: take

$$F_u(x,y) = \begin{bmatrix} x^4 + y - 2u_1\\ x^4 + x^2 - 2u_2y^2 \end{bmatrix}.$$

For $u=1$ we have the solution $(x,y) = (1,1)$. For finding all solutions of $F_2$ we use

julia> using HomotopyContinuation
julia> @polyvar x y u[1:2]
julia> F = [x^4 + y - 2u[1], x^4 + x^2 - 2*u[2]*y^2]
julia> monodromy_solve(F, [[1; 1]], [1, 1], parameters = u)
MonodromyResult
==================================
• 8 solutions (4 real)
• return code → heuristic_stop
• 644 tracked paths


### Group Actions

If the set of solutions of F is invariant under some group actions you can exploit this in your computation.

monodromy_solve(F, [x], u₀, parameters = u, group_actions = G)


computes only with equivalence classes modulo G.

monodromy_solve(F, [x], u₀, parameters = u, group_actions = G, equivalence_classes = false)


computes only with all solutions but exploits G to find solutions more quickly.

In the above example, the group that interchanges x and y acts on the solution set of F. We can use the group that multiplies x by $\pm 1$.

julia> G = GroupActions( a -> ([-a[1], a[2]], ))
julia> monodromy_solve(F, [[1; 1]], [1, 1], parameters = u, group_actions = G)
MonodromyResult
==================================
• 4 classes of solutions (modulo group action) (2 real)
• return code → heuristic_stop
• 322 tracked paths


Now, we found only 4 solutions: one from each orbit. If we suppress computing with equivalence classes, then

julia> monodromy_solve(F, [[1; 1]], [1, 1], parameters = u, group_actions = G, equivalence_classes = false)
MonodromyResult
==================================
• 8 solutions (4 real)
• return code → heuristic_stop
• 644 tracked paths