Resultant of an equivariant polynomial system with respect to the symmetric group

Abstract : Given a system of n homogeneous polynomials in n variables which is equivariant with respect to the canonical actions of the symmetric group of n symbols on the variables and on the polynomials, it is proved that its resultant can be decomposed into a product of several smaller resultants that are given in terms of some divided differences. As an application, we obtain a decomposition formula for the discriminant of a multivariate homogeneous symmetric polynomial.