Some algebraic aspects of mesoprimary decomposition (Q1672036)

In a polynomial ring over an algebraically closed field, each binomial ideal has a primary decomposition into binomial ideals [\textit{D. Eisenbud} and \textit{B. Sturmfels}, Duke Math. J. 84, No. 1, 1--45 (1996; Zbl 0873.13021)]. Over a coefficient field that is not algebraically closed, a \emph{mesoprimary decomposition} is the finest decomposition into binomial ideals that is still binomial [\textit{T. Kahle} and \textit{E. Miller}, Algebra Number Theory 8, No. 6, 1297--1364 (2014; Zbl 1341.20062)]. The theory of mesoprimary decomposition contains many subtleties (some arising from torsion) and one aim of the paper reviewed here, is to get rid of subtleties while only slightly restricting generality. The restriction used is that all ideals are assumed to be positively graded by an affine monoid. In this multigrading, nonzero constant polynomials are the only degree zero polynomials. Under these assumptions the authors present a simplified, algebraic version of mesoprimary decomposition. The main results in this paper are explicit formulas for primary and mesoprimary components in terms of the original ideal, adding monomials and saturations. The paper also discusses the computation of toral and Andean components from [\textit{A. Dickenstein} et al., Math. Z. 264, No. 4, 745--763 (2010; Zbl 1190.13017)] On the way to their results the authors also discovered a binomial ideal where the intersection of the primary components over minimal primes, the so-called Hull of the ideal, is not binomial. This answers a question of Eisenbud and Sturmfels. Additionally a binomial ideal for which the toral part is not binomial is discovered, answering a question of Matusevich et al.