Sum of Squares Decompositions for Structured Biquadratic Forms

Abstract This paper studies sum-of-squares (SOS) representations for structured biquadratic forms. We prove that diagonally dominated symmetric biquadratic tensors are always SOS. For the special case of symmetric biquadratic forms, we establish necessary and sufficient conditions for positive semi-definiteness of monic symmetric biquadratic forms, characterize the geometry of the corresponding positive semi-definite (PSD) cone as a convex polyhedron, and prove that every such PSD form is SOS for any dimensions m and n . We also raise two open questions regarding SOS representations for symmetric M-biquadratic tensors and symmetric $$\textrm{B}_{0}$$ B 0 -biquadratic tensors. Our results advance the understanding of when positive semi-definiteness implies SOS decompositions for structured biquadratic forms.