Cohen-Macaulay quotients of normal semigroup rings via irreducible resolutions. (Q1599950)

Let \(Q\subseteq \mathbb Z^d\) be an affine semigroup. An irreducible resolution of a module \(M\) over the semigroup ring \(k[Q]\) is an exact sequence \(0\to M\to W^0\to W^1\to \cdots\) with \(W^i=\bigoplus_{j=1}^{\mu_i} k[Q]/W^{ij}\) where each \(W^{ij}\) is an irreducible monomial ideal of \(k[Q]\). The irreducible resolution is called linear if \(W^i\) is pure of Krull dimension dim\((M)-i\) for all \(i\geq 0\). In the current paper, the author establishes that, for a radical monomial ideal \(I\) in a normal semigroup ring \(k[Q]\), there is a unique minimal irreducible resolution \[ 0\to k[Q]/I\to W^0\to W^1\to \cdots \] by modules \(W^i\) of the form \(\bigoplus _jk[F_{ij}]\), where the \(F_{ij}\) are (not necessarily distinct) faces of \(Q\). That is, \(W^i\) is a direct sum of quotients of \(k[Q]\) by prime ideals. This paper characterizes Cohen-Macaulay quotients \(k[Q]/I\) as those whose minimal irreducible resolutions are linear. The proof exploits a graded ring-theoretic analogue of the Zeeman spectral sequence, thereby also providing a combinatorial topological version involving no commutative algebra. The characterization via linear irreducible resolutions reduces to the Eagon-Reiner theorem by Alexander duality when \(Q=\mathbb N^d\). The author notes that the methods involved here should have applications beyond this work and discusses some possibilities in the final section.