A unified framework of SAGE and SONC polynomials and its duality theory

Abstract: We introduce and study a cone which consists of a class of generalized polynomial functions and which provides a common framework for recent non-negativity certificates of polynomials in sparse settings. Specifically, this $\mathcal{S}$-cone generalizes and unifies sums of arithmetic-geometric mean exponentials (SAGE) and sums of non-negative circuit polynomials (SONC). We provide a comprehensive characterization of the dual cone of the $\mathcal{S}$-cone, which even for its specializations provides novel and projection-free descriptions. As applications of this result, we give an exact characterization of the extreme rays of the $\mathcal{S}$-cone and thus also of its specializations, and we provide a subclass of functions for which non-negativity coincides with membership in the $\mathcal{S}$-cone. Moreover, we derive from the duality theory an approximation result of non-negative univariate polynomials and show that a SONC analogue of Putinar's Positivstellensatz does not exist even in the univariate case.