Decomposability of multivariable polynomials

Abstract

Let $K$ be an algebrically closed field and let $n\geq 1$. If $P\in K[X]=K[X_1,\ldots,X_n]$, $P\neq 0$, we denote by $I(P)$ the support of $P$, which is the finite subset of $\mathbb N^n$ such that $P=\sum_{i\in I(P)}a_iX^i$ with $a_i\in K^*$. (If $i=(i_1,\ldots,i_n)$ then $X^i:=X_1^{i_1}\cdots X_n^{i_n}$.) We determine all finite, nonempty sets $I\sb\mathbb N^n$ such that every $P\in K[X]$ with $I(P)=I$ is decomposable. We also consider the problem of finding all $I\sb\mathbb N^n$ such that every $P\in K[X]$ with $I(P)=I$ is irreducible. We do not solve this problem, which is very unlikely to have a simple answer. We show however that the answer depends on the characteristic of $K$ and we determine the nature of this dependence.