Nash function
In real algebraic geometry, a Nash function on an open semialgebraic subset U ⊂ Rn is an analytic function f: U → R satisfying a nontrivial polynomial equation P(x,f(x)) = 0 for all x in U (A semialgebraic subset of Rn is a subset obtained from subsets of the form {x in Rn : P(x)=0} or {x in Rn : P(x) > 0}, where P is a polynomial, by taking finite unions, finite intersections and complements). Some examples of Nash functions:
Nash functions are those functions needed in order to have an implicit function theorem in real algebraic geometry.
Along with Nash functions one defines Nash manifolds, which are semialgebraic analytic submanifolds of some Rn. A Nash mapping between Nash manifolds is then an analytic mapping with semialgebraic graph. Nash functions and manifolds are named after John Forbes Nash, Jr., who proved (1952) that any compact smooth manifold admits a Nash manifold structure, i.e., is diffeomorphic to some Nash manifold. More generally, a smooth manifold admits a Nash manifold structure if and only if it is diffeomorphic to the interior of some compact smooth manifold possibly with boundary. Nash's result was later (1973) completed by Alberto Tognoli who proved that any compact smooth manifold is diffeomorphic to some affine real algebraic manifold; actually, any Nash manifold is Nash diffeomorphic to an affine real algebraic manifold. These results exemplify the fact that the Nash category is somewhat intermediate between the smooth and the algebraic categories.
The local properties of Nash functions are well understood. The ring of germs of Nash functions at a point of a Nash manifold of dimension n is isomorphic to the ring of algebraic power series in n variables (i.e., those series satisfying a nontrivial polynomial equation), which is the henselization of the ring of germs of rational functions. In particular, it is a regular local ring of dimension n.
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