Simplifying matrix differential equations with general coefficients

We show that the n x n matrix differential equation delta(Y) = AY with n2 general coefficients cannot be simplified to an equation in less than n parameters by using gauge transformations whose coefficients are rational functions in the matrix entries of A and their derivatives. Our proof uses differential Galois theory and a differential analogue of essential dimension. We also bound the minimum number of parameters needed to describe some generic Picard-Vessiot extensions.