A bound on the projective dimension of three cubics (Q1034549): Difference between revisions

In their paper [J. Comm. Algebra 1, 159--195 (2009)], \textit{I. Peeva} and \textit{M. Stillman} posed the following problem: ``Is there a bound, independent of \(n,\) on the projective dimension of ideals in \(R = k[X_1,\dots,X_n]\) which are generated by \(N\) homogeneous polynomials of degrees \(d_1,\dots,d_N?\)'' --- In the paper under review the author considers the particular situation of \(N = 3, d_1 = d_2 = d_3.\) It is shown that if an ideal \(J \subset R\) is generated by three cubics the projective dimension of \(R/J\) is at most 36. By the author's opinion the bound of 36 is far from being sharp. Until recently it was not known whether there are examples generated by three cubics with projective dimension greater than 4. The author exhibits a method for the construction of examples generated by three cubics whose projective dimension is equal to 5. An explicit example is obtained by a generic projection of the Veronese surface. Reviewer's remark: By making a little more precise what does ``generic'' in Engheta's results means, it will be possible to construct the following three cubics \[ F = y_3^3-y_2y_3y_4+y_1y_4^2, G = y_1y_2y_3-y_0y_3^2-y_1^2y_4, H = y_1^3-y_0y_1y_2+y_0^2y_3 \] in the polynomial ring \(k[y_0,y_1,y_2,y_3,y_4] = R\) such that \(R/(F,G,H)\) is of projective dimension 5.