Hilbert functions of irreducible arithmetically Gorenstein schemes. (Q1425097): Difference between revisions

The possible Hilbert functions of reduced arithmetically Cohen-Macaulay (ACM) subschemes of projective space of any codimension is well known. What can be the Hilbert function of a reduced t and irreducible ACM subvariety of projective space? In codimension two this is again well-known. Answering this question for reduced and irreducible ACM subvarieties in codimension \(\geq 3\) is an open question of great interest. There is a strong connection with the Hilbert function of points in uniform position, due to Harris, but in codimension \(\geq 3\) it is not even known if the answers are the same, never mind a complete classification result in either case. In codimension \(c\), the standard determinantal subschemes (i.e.\ the subschemes of codimension \(c\) defined by the maximal minors of a \(t \times (t+c-1)\) homogeneous matrix) are all ACM, and when \(c=2\) the notions of ACM and ``standard determinantal'' coincide. The authors here first prove some folklore facts about the Hilbert function of standard determinantal schemes of codimension \(c\), both in the general case and in the irreducible case. The possible Hilbert functions of arithmetically Gorenstein (AG) subschemes of projective space are also not known, except in codimension \(\leq 3\); much less is it known what are the Hilbert functions of reduced, irreducible AG subschemes. A nice class of AG subschemes was studied by \textit{Kleppe} et al. [Gorenstein liaison, complete intersection liaison invariants and unobstructedness. Mem. Am. Math. Soc. 154 (2001; Zbl 1005.14018)], namely those that are twisted anticanonical divisors on an ACM subscheme satisfying certain mild local conditions. The authors of the present paper study when such divisors on a reduced, irreducible ACM subscheme \(S\) can again be reduced and irreducible, and then they describe the Hilbert functions that occur in terms of the Hilbert function of \(S\). Then as an application, they consider the case where \(S\) is a reduced, irreducible standard determinantal subscheme, and combine their folklore results with the latter results to obtain a large class of Hilbert functions that arise for reduced, irreducible AG subschemes of any codimension.