This is a survey article on Gorenstein initial complexes of extensively studied ideals in commutative algebra and algebraic geometry. These include defining ideals of Segre and Veronese varieties, toric deformations of flag varieties known as Hibi ideals, determinantal ideals of generic matrices of indeterminates, and ideals generated by Pfaffians of generic skew symmetric matrices. We give a summary of recent work on the construction of squarefree Gorenstein initial ideals of these ideals when the ideals are themselves Gorenstein. We also present our own independent results for the Segre, Veronese, and some determinantal cases.
We will study monomial ideals $I$ in the exterior algebra as well as in the polynomial ring whose generic initial ideal is constant for all term orders up to permutations of variables. First, in the exterior algebra, we determine all graphs and all flag complexes whose exterior face ideal satisfies the above condition. Second, in the polynomial ring, it will be shown that the generic initial ideal $\gin_σ(I(G))$ of the edge ideal $I(G)$ of a graph $G$ is constant for all term orders $σ$ up to permutations of variables if and only if $G$ is a complete bipartite graph.
In this paper we extend one direction of Fröberg's theorem on a combinatorial classification of quadratic monomial ideals with linear resolutions. We do this by generalizing the notion of a chordal graph to higher dimensions with the introduction of d-chorded and orientably-d-cycle-complete simplicial complexes. We show that a certain class of simplicial complexes, the d-dimensional trees, correspond to ideals having linear resolutions over fields of characteristic 2 and also give a necessary combinatorial condition for a monomial ideal to be componentwise linear over all fields.
Let $L_n$ be a line graph with $n$ edges and $\F(L_n)$ the facet ideal of its matching complex. In this paper, we provide the irreducible decomposition of $\F(L_n)$ and some exact formulas for the projective dimension and the regularity of $\F(L_n)$.
Given a simplicial complex, it is easy to construct a generic deformation of its Stanley-Reisner ideal. The main question under investigation in this paper is how to characterize the simplicial complexes such that their Stanley-Reisner ideals have Cohen-Macaulay generic deformations. Algorithms are presented to construct such deformations for matroid complexes, shifted complexes, and tree complexes.
A numerical characterization is given of the so-called h-triangles of sequentially Cohen-Macaulay simplicial complexes. This result characterizes the number of faces of various dimensions and codimensions in such a complex, generalizing the classical Macaulay-Stanley theorem to the nonpure case. Moreover, we characterize the possible Betti tables of componentwise linear ideals. A key tool in our investigation is a bijection between shifted multicomplexes of degree at most d and shifted pure (d-1)-dimensional simplicial complexes.
In this paper we investigate to what extent the results of Z. Wang and D. Daigle on nice derivations of the polynomial ring in three variables over a field k of characteristic zero extend to the polynomial ring over a PID R, containing the field of rational numbers. One of our results shows that the kernel of a nice derivation on the polynomial ring in four variables over k of rank at most three is a polynomial ring over k.
We study d-dimensional generalizations of three mutually related topics in graph theory: Hamiltonian paths, (unit) interval graphs, and binomial edge ideals. We provide partial high-dimensional generalizations of Ore and Posa's sufficient conditions for a graph to be Hamiltonian. We introduce a hierarchy of combinatorial properties for simplicial complexes that generalize unit-interval, interval, and co-comparability graphs. We connect these properties to the already existing notions of determinantal facet ideals and Hamiltonian paths in simplicial complexes. Some important consequences of our…
We study the minimal primary decomposition of completely $t$-spread lexsegment ideals via simplicial complexes. We determine some algebraic invariants of such a class of $t$-spread ideals. Hence, we classify all $t$-spread lexsegment ideals which are Cohen-Macaulay.
It is proved that the broken circuit complex of an ordered matroid is Gorenstein if and only if it is a complete intersection. Several characterizations for a matroid that admits such an order are then given, with particular interest in the $h$-vector of broken circuit complexes of the matroid. As an application, we prove that the Orlik--Terao algebra of a hyperplane arrangement is Gorenstein if and only if it is a complete intersection. Interestingly, our result shows that the complete intersection property (and hence the Gorensteinness as well) of the Orlik--Terao algebra can be determined f…
Given any order ideal $U$ consisting of color-squarefree monomials involving variables with $d$ colors, we associate to it a balanced $(d-1)$-dimensional simplicial complex $Δ_{\mathrm{bal}}(U)$ that we call a balanced squeezed complex. In fact, these complexes have properties similar to squeezed balls as introduced by Kalai and the more general squeezed complexes, introduced by the authors. We show that any balanced squeezed complex is vertex-decomposable and that its flag $h$-vector can be read off from the underlying order ideal. Moreover, we describe explicitly its Stanley-Reisner ideal $I…
There are many connections between the invariants of the different powers of an ideal. We investigate how to construct minimal resolutions for all powers at once using methods from algebraic and polyhedral topology with a focus on ideals arising from combinatorics. In one construction, we obtain cellular resolutions for all powers of edge ideals of bipartite graphs on n vertices, supported by (n-2)-dimensional complexes. Our main result is an explicit minimal cellular resolution for all powers of edge ideals of paths. These cell complexes are constructed by first subdividing polyhedral complex…
In this paper, we study ideals $I$ whose linear strand can be supported on a regular CW complex. We provide a sufficient condition for the linear strand of an arbitrary subideal of $I$ to remain supported on an easily described subcomplex. In particular, we prove that a certain class of rainbow monomial ideals always have linear strand supported on a regular CW complex, including any initial ideal of the ideal of maximal minors of a generic matrix. We also provide a sufficient condition for these ideals to have linear resolution, which is also an equivalence under mild assumptions. We then emp…
We produce a family of complexes called trimming complexes and explore applications. We study how trimming complexes can be used to deduce the Betti table for the minimal free resolution of the ideal generated by subsets of a generating set for an arbitrary ideal $I$. In particular, we compute the Betti table for removing an arbitrary generator from the ideal of submaximal pfaffians of a generic skew symmetric matrix $M$. We also explicitly compute the Betti table for the ideal generated by certain subsets of the generating set of the ideal of maximal minors of a generic $n \times m$ matrix. S…
In this note we consider monoidal complexes and their associated algebras, called toric face rings. These rings generalize Stanley-Reisner rings and affine monoid algebras. We compute initial ideals of the presentation ideal of a toric face ring, and determine its graded Betti numbers. Our results generalize celebrated theorems of Hochster in combinatorial commutative algebra.
We extend a result of Minh and Trung to get criteria for $\depth I=\depth\sqrt{I}$ where $I$ is an unmixed monomial ideal of the polynomial ring $S=K[x_1,..., x_n]$. As an application we characterize all the pure simplicial complexes $Δ$ which have rigid depth, that is, which satisfy the condition that for every unmixed monomial ideal $I\subset S$ with $\sqrt{I}=I_Δ$ one has $\depth(I)=\depth(I_Δ).$
For a simplicial complex X and a field K, let h_i(X)=\dim \tilde{H}_i(X;K). It is shown that if X,Y are complexes on the same vertex set, then for all k h_{k-1}(X\cap Y) \leq \sum_{σ\in Y} \sum_{i+j=k} h_{i-1}(X[σ])\cdot h_{j-1}(\lk(Y,σ)) . A simplicial complex X is d-Leray over K, if h_i(Y)=0 for all induced subcomplexes Y \subset X and i \geq d. Let L_K(X) denote the minimal d such that X is d-Leray over K. The above theorem implies that if X,Y are simplicial complexes on the same vertex set then L_K(X \cap Y) \leq L_K(X) +L_K(Y). Reformulating this inequality in commutative algebra terms, w…
One of the main open questions in liaison theory is whether every homogeneous Cohen-Macaulay ideal in a polynomial ring is glicci, i.e. if it is in the G-liaison class of a complete intersection. We give an affirmative answer to this question for Stanley-Reisner ideals defined by simplicial complexes that are weakly vertex-decomposable. This class of complexes includes matroid, shifted and Gorenstein complexes respectively. Moreover, we construct a simplicial complex which shows that the property of being glicci depends on the characteristic of the base field. As an application of our methods …
In this paper we introduce the class of ordered homomorphism ideals and prove that these ideals admit minimal cellular resolutions constructed as homomorphism complexes. As a key ingredient of our work, we introduce the class of cointerval simplicial complexes and investigate their combinatorial and topological properties. As a concrete illustration of these structural results, we introduce and study nonnesting monomial ideals, an interesting family of combinatorially defined ideals.
A triangulation of a polygon has an associated Stanley-Reisner ideal. We obtain a full algebraic and combinatorial understanding of these ideals, and describe their separated models. More generally we do this for stacked simplicial complexes, in particular for stacked polytopes.
In this paper we study simplicial complexes as higher dimensional graphs in order to produce algebraic statements about their facet ideals. We introduce a large class of square-free monomial ideals with Cohen-Macaulay quotients, and a criterion for the Cohen-Macaulayness of facet ideals of simplicial trees. Along the way, we generalize several concepts from graph theory to simplicial complexes.
In this paper we describe the irreducible decomposition of the facet ideal $\F(Δ_{m,n})$ of the chessboard complex $Δ_{m,n}$ with $n\geq m$. We also provide some lower bounds for depth and regularity of the facet ideal $\F(Δ_{m,n})$. When $m\leq 3$, we prove that these lower bounds can be obtained.
We prove that the Eliahou-Kervaire resolution of a Cohen-Macaulay stable monomial is supported by a regular CW complex whose underlying space is a closed ball. We also show that the modified Eliahou-Kervaire resolutions of variants of a Borel fixed ideal (e.g., a squarefree strongly stable ideal) are supported by regular CW complexes, and their underlying spaces are closed balls in the Cohen-Macaulay case.
We study the symbolic powers of the Stanley-Reisner ideal $I_{B_n}$ of a bipyramid $B_n$ over a $n-$gon $Q_n$. Using a combinatorial approach, based on analysis of subtrees in $Q_n$ we compute the Waldschmidt constant of $I_{B_n}$.
Let $Δ$ be a one-dimensional simplicial complex. Let $I_Δ$ be the Stanley-Reisner ideal of $Δ$. We prove that for all $s \ge 1$ and all intermediate ideals $J$ generated by $I_Δ^s$ and some minimal generators of $I_Δ^{(s)}$, we have $${\rm reg} J = {\rm reg} I_Δ^s = {\rm reg} I_Δ^{(s)}.$$
Given an ascending chain $(I_n)_{n\in\mathbb{N}}$ of $\Sym$-invariant squarefree monomial ideals, we study the corresponding chain of Alexander duals $(I_n^\vee)_{n\in\mathbb{N}}$. Using a novel combinatorial tool, which we call \emph{avoidance up to symmetry}, we provide an explicit description of the minimal generating set up to symmetry in terms of the original generators. Combining this result with methods from discrete geometry, this enables us to show that the number of orbit generators of $I_n^\vee$ is given by a polynomial in $n$ for sufficiently large $n$. The same is true for the num…
In attempting to understand how combinatorial modifications alter algebraic properties of monomial ideals, several authors have investigated the process of adding "whiskers" to graphs. In this paper, we study a similar construction to build a simplicial complex $Δ_χ$ from a coloring $χ$ of a subset of the vertices of $Δ$, and give necessary and sufficient conditions for this construction to produce vertex decomposable simplicial complexes. We apply this work to strengthen and give new proofs about sequentially Cohen-Macaulay edge ideals of graphs.
We compute the initial ideals, with respect to certain conveniently chosen term orders, of ideals of tangent cones at torus fixed points to Schubert varieties in orthogonal Grassmannians. The initial ideals turn out to be square-free monomial ideals and therefore Stanley-Reisner face rings of simplicial complexes. We describe these complexes. The maximal faces of these complexes encode certain sets of non-intersecting lattice paths.
In this paper, the relation between algebraic shifting and join which was conjectured by Eran Nevo will be proved. Let $σ$ and $τ$ be simplicial complexes and $σ* τ$ their join. Let $J_σ$ be the exterior face ideal of $σ$ and $Δ(σ)$ the exterior algebraic shifted complex of $σ$. Assume that $σ* τ$ is a simplicial complex on $[n]=\{1,2,...,n\}$. For any $d$-subset $S \subset [n]$, let $m_{\preceq_{rev} S}(σ)$ denote the number of $d$-subsets $R \in σ$ which is equal to or smaller than $S$ w.r.t. the reverse lexicographic order. We will prove that $m_{\preceq_{rev} S}(Δ({σ* τ}))\geq m_{\preceq_{…
When a cone is added to a simplicial complex $Δ$ over one of its faces, we investigate the relation between the arithmetical ranks of the Stanley-Reisner ideals of the original simplicial complex and the new simplicial complex $Δ'$. In particular, we show that the arithmetical rank of the Stanley-Reisner ideal of $Δ'$ equals the projective dimension of the Stanley-Reisner ring of $Δ'$ if the corresponding equality holds for $Δ$.
We study Stanley-Reisner ideals of broken circuits complexes and characterize those ones admitting a linear resolution or being complete intersections. These results will then be used to characterize arrangements whose Orlik-Terao ideal has the same properties. As an application, we improve a result of Wilf on upper bounds for the coefficients of the chromatic polynomial of a maximal planar graph. We also show that for an ordered matroid with disjoint minimal broken circuits, the supersolvability of the matroid is equivalent to the Koszulness of its Orlik-Solomon algebra.
This paper studies properties of simplicial complexes for which the m-th symbolic power of the Stanley-Reisner ideal equals to the m-th ordinary power for a given m > 1. The main results are combinatorial characterizations of such complexes in the two-dimensional case. It turns out that there exist only a finite number of complexes with this property and that these complexes can be described completely. As a consequence we are able to determine all complexes for which the m-th ordinary power of the Stanley-Reisner ideal is Cohen-Macaulay for a given m > 1.
We give a necessary and sufficient condition for a simplicial complex to be approximately Cohen-Macaulay. Namely it is approximately Cohen-Macaulay if and only if the ideal associated to its Alexander dual is componentwise linear and generated in two consecutive degrees. This completes the result of Herzog and Hibi who proved that a simplicial complex is sequentially Cohen-Macaulay if and only if the ideal associated to its Alexander dual is componentwise linear.
We study the behavior of generic initial ideals with respect to fibre products. In our main result we determine the generic initial ideal of the fibre product with respect to the reverse lexicographic order. As an application we compute the symmetric algebraic shifted complex of two disjoint simplicial complexes as was conjectured by Kalai. This result is the symmetric analogue of a theorem of Nevo who determined the exterior algebraic shifted complex of two disjoint simplicial complexes as predicted by Kalai.
We use the natural homeomorphism between a regular CW-complex X and its face poset P_X to establish a canonical isomorphism between the cellular chain complex of X and the result of applying the poset construction of arXiv:0806.4532v1 to P_X. For a monomial ideal whose free resolution is supported on a regular CW-complex, this isomorphism allows the free resolution of the ideal to be realized as a CW-poset resolution. Conversely, any CW-poset resolution of a monomial ideal gives rise to a resolution supported on a regular CW-complex.
This paper examines the dimension of the graded local cohomology $H_\mathfrak{m}^p(S/K^s)_γ$ and $H_\mathfrak{m}^p(S/K^{(s)})$ for a monomial ideal $K$. This information is encoded in the reduced homology of a simplicial complex called the degree complex. We explicitly compute the degree complexes of ordinary and symbolic powers of sums and fiber products of ideals, as well as the degree complex of the mixed product, in terms of the degree complexes of their components. We then use homological techniques to discuss the cohomology of their quotient rings. In particular, this technique allows fo…
We introduce the notion of sortability and $t$-sortability for a simplicial complex and study the graphs for which their independence complexes are either sortable or $t$-sortable. We show that the proper interval graphs are precisely the graphs whose independence complex is sortable. By using this characterization, we show that the ideal generated by all squarefree monomials corresponding to independent sets of vertices of $G$ of size $t$ (for a given positive integer $t$) has the strong persistence property, when $G$ is a proper interval graph. Moreover, all of its powers have linear quotien…
Alexander duality has, in the past, made its way into commutative algebra through Stanley-Reisner rings of simplicial complexes. This has the disadvantage that one is limited to squarefree monomial ideals. The notion of Alexander duality is generalized here to arbitrary monomial ideals. It is shown how this duality is naturally expressed by Bass numbers, in their relations to the Betti numbers of a monomial ideal and its Alexander dual. Relative cohomological constructions on cellular complexes are shown to relate cellular free resolutions of a monomial ideal to free resolutions of its Alexand…
We study the dependence of graded Betti numbers of monomial ideals on the characteristic of the base field. The examples we describe include bipartite ideals, Stanley--Reisner ideals of vertex-decomposable complexes and ideals with componentwise linear resolutions. We give a description of bipartite graphs and, using discrete Morse theory, provide a way of looking at the homology of arbitrary simplicial complexes through bipartite ideals. We also prove that the Betti table of a monomial ideal over the field of rational numbers can be obtained from the Betti table over any field by a sequence o…
We define nice partitions of the multicomplex associated to a Stanley ideal. As the main result we show that if the monomial ideal $I$ is a CM Stanley ideal, then $I^p$ is a Stanley ideal as well, where $I^p$ is the polarization of $I$.
Minimal cellular resolutions of the edge ideals of cointerval hypergraphs are constructed. This class of d-uniform hypergraphs coincides with the complements of interval graphs (for the case d=2), and strictly contains the class of `strongly stable' hypergraphs corresponding to pure shifted simplicial complexes. The polyhedral complexes supporting the resolutions are described as certain spaces of directed graph homomorphisms, and are realized as subcomplexes of mixed subdivisions of the Minkowski sums of simplices. Resolutions of more general hypergraphs are obtained by considering decomposit…
We study Stanley decompositions and show that Stanley's conjecture on Stanley decompositions implies his conjecture on partitionable Cohen-Macaulay simplicial complexes. We also prove these conjectures for all Cohen-Macaulay monomial ideals of codimension 2 and all Gorenstein monomial ideals of codimension 3.
Using the concept of $d$-collapsibility from combinatorial topology, we define chordal simplicial complexes and show that their Stanley-Reisner ideals are componentwise linear. Our construction is inspired by and an extension of "chordal clutters'' which was defined by Bigdeli, Yazdan Pour and Zaare-Nahandi in 2017, and characterizes Betti tables of all ideals with linear resolution in a polynomial ring. We show $d$-collapsible and $d$-representable complexes produce componentwise linear ideals for appropriate $d$. Along the way, we prove that there are generators that when added to the ideal,…
We prove a duality theorem for simplicial complexes arising from a combinatorial construction we define, which applies to the squarefree monomial complexes for Veronese ideals of projective spaces and weighted projective spaces. Our theorem yields a formula for the multigraded Betti numbers of these Veronese ideals in terms of the reduced homology groups of these complexes which is dual to one given by Bruns and Herzog. We apply this formula in several ways, including by giving an algorithm for finding the highest syzygy of such a Veronese ideal.
We show that for every positive integer R there exist monomial ideals generated in degree two, with linear syzygies, and regularity of the quotient equal to R. Such examples can not be found among Gorenstein ideals since the regularity of their quotients is at most four. We also show that for most monomial ideals generated in degree two and with linear syzygies the regularity grows at most doubly logarithmically in the number of variables.
