On the number of intersection points of the contour of an amoeba with a line

Abstract

In this note, we investigate the maximal number of intersection points of a line with the contour of hypersurface amoebas in ${\mathbb{R}}^n$. We define the latter number to be the $\mathbb{R}$-degree of the contour. We also investigate the $\mathbb{R}$-degree of related sets such as the boundary of amoebas and the amoeba of the real part of hypersurfaces defined over $\mathbb{R}$. For all these objects, we provide bounds for the respective $\mathbb{R}$-degrees.

15 pages, 3 figures