On the Exactness of Sum-of-Squares Approximations for the Cone of $5\times 5$ Copositive Matrices

Abstract: We investigate the hierarchy of conic inner approximations $\mathcal{K}^{(r)}_n$ ($r\in \mathbb{N}$) for the copositive cone $\text{COP}n$, introduced by Parrilo (Structured Semidefinite Programs and Semialgebraic Geometry Methods in Robustness and Optimization, PhD Thesis, California Institute of Technology, 2001). It is known that $\text{COP}_4=\mathcal{K}^{(0)}_4$ and that, while the union of the cones $\mathcal{K}^{(r)}_n$ covers the interior of $\text{COP}_n$, it does not cover the full cone $\text{COP}_n$ if $n\geq 6$. Here we investigate the remaining case $n=5$, where all extreme rays have been fully characterized by Hildebrand (The extreme rays of the 5 $\times$ 5 copositive cone. Linear Algebra and its Applications, 437(7):1538--1547, 2012). We show that the Horn matrix $H$ and its positive diagonal scalings play an exceptional role among the extreme rays of $\text{COP}_5$. We show that equality $\text{COP}_5=\bigcup{r\geq 0} \mathcal{K}^{(r)}_5$ holds if and only if any positive diagonal scaling of $H$ belongs to $\mathcal{K}^{(r)}_5$ for some $r\in \mathbb{N}$. As a main ingredient for the proof, we introduce new Lasserre-type conic inner approximations for $\text{COP}_n$, based on sums of squares of polynomials. We show their links to the cones $\mathcal{K}^{(r)}_n$, and we use an optimization approach that permits to exploit finite convergence results on Lasserre hierarchy to show membership in the new cones.