Padded polynomials, their cousins, and geometric complexity theory

Abstract: We establish basic facts about the varieties of homogeneous polynomials divisible by powers of linear forms, and explain consequences for geometric complexity theory. This includes quadratic set-theoretic equations, a description of the ideal in terms of the kernel of a linear map that generalizes the Foulkes-Howe map, and an explicit description of the coordinate ring of the normalization. We also prove asymptotic injectivity of the Foulkes-Howe map.