Let $F$ denote a binary form of order $d$ over the complex numbers. If $r$ is a divisor of $d$, then the Hilbert covariant $\mathcal{H}_{r,d}(F)$ vanishes exactly when $F$ is the perfect power of an order $r$ form. In geometric terms, the coefficients of $\mathcal{H}$ give defining equations for the image variety $X$ of an embedding $\mathbf{P}^r \hookrightarrow \mathbf{P}^d$. In this paper we describe a new construction of the Hilbert covariant; and simultaneously situate it into a wider class of covariants called the Göttingen covariants, all of which vanish on $X$. We prove that the ideal generated by the coefficients of $\mathcal{H}$ defines $X$ as a scheme. Finally, we exhibit a generalisation of the Göttingen covariants to $n$-ary forms using the classical Clebsch transfer principle.

We prove a characteristic free version of Weyl's theorem on polarization. Our result is an exact analogue of Weyl's theorem, the difference being that our statement is about separating invariants rather than generating invariants. For the special case of finite group actions we introduce the concept of \emph{cheap polarization}, and show that it is enough to take cheap polarizations of invariants of just one copy of a representation to obtain separating vector invariants for any number of copies. This leads to upper bounds on the number and degrees of separating vector invariants of finite groups.

Let $L$ be a simple algebraic group and $P$ a parabolic subgroup with Abelian unipotent radical $P^u$. Many familiar varieties (determinantal varieties, their symmetric and skew-symmetric analogues) arise as closures of $P$-orbits in $P^u$. We give a unified invariant-theoretic treatment of various properties of these orbit closures. We also describe the closures of the conormal bundles of these orbits as the irreducible components of some commuting variety and show that the polynomial algebra $k[P^u]$ is a free module over the algebra of covariants.