On the Cohen-Macaulay and Buchsbaum property for unions of planes in affine space (Q1057329)

Consider the coordinate ring A of a union of planes in affine \((n+1)\)- space. A is also the homogeneous coordinate ring of a union of lines in projective n-space. This paper relates the Cohen-Macaulay and Buchsbaum properties of A to the placement of the lines in projective space. These properties are shown to be strongly related to the seminormality of A. For example, if A is seminormal then A must be Buchsbaum. In this case, the connectedness of the configuration of lines is a necessary condition for A to be Cohen-Macaulay. - The main theorem of this paper deals with a connected configuration of lines such that whenever at least three lines meet in a common point, they have linearly independent directions. In this case A is Cohen-Macaulay if and only if A is seminormal; if not, the seminormalization of A is the Cohen-Macaulayfication of A. The authors consider more general configurations of lines, and obtain more complicated interpretations of the Cohen-Macaulay and Buchsbaum properties in terms of an appropriate seminormality condition. The reason for the complication is that a union of lines through a common point has a Cohen-Macaulay ring, and this ring cannot be seminormal if the lines are not linearly independent. The authors conclude with analysis of \(m\times n\) configurations of lines on a quadratic surface in projective 3-space. Such a surface has two rulings, m lines are chosen from one ruling and n are chosen from the other. A is a complete intersection if and only if \(m=n\). The authors show that: (i) if \(| m-n| =1\), A is Cohen-Macaulay; (ii) if \(| m-n| =2\), A is Buchsbaum but not C-M; (iii) if \(| m-n| \geq 3\), A is not even Buchsbaum.