Lissajous varieties

Abstract This paper studies affine algebraic varieties parametrized by sine and cosine functions, generalizing algebraic Lissajous figures in the plane. We show that, up to a combinatorial factor, the degree of these varieties equals the volume of a polytope. We deduce defining equations from rank constraints on a matrix with polynomial entries. We discuss applications of Lissajous varieties in dynamical systems, in particular the Kuramoto model. This leads us to study connections with convex optimization and Lissajous discriminants.