On the strength of homogeneous polynomials

The strength of a homogeneous polynomial is the smallest length of an additive decomposition as sum of reducible forms. It is called slice rank if we additionally require that the reducible forms have a linear factor. Geometrically, the slice rank corresponds to the smallest codimension of a linear space contained in the hypersurface defined by the form. Due to this relation, it is well-known and easy to compute the value of the general slice rank and also to show that the set of forms with bounded slice rank is Zariski-closed. In this talk, I will present the following results from recent joint works with A. Bik, E. Ballico and E. Ventura:
(1) the set of forms with bounded strength is not always Zariski-closed: this is an asymptotic result in the number of variables proved by using the theory of polynomial functors;
(2) for general forms, strength and slice rank are equal: this is proved by showing that the largest component of the secant variety of the variety of reducible forms is the secant variety of the variety of forms with a linear factor.