Local equations for the toric Hilbert scheme (Q1841173)

Let \(n>d\) be positive integers and let \({\mathcal A}=\{a_1,\dots,a_n\}\) be a subset of \({\mathbb N}^d\setminus \{(0,\dots, 0)\}\) such that the matrix with columns \(a_i\) has rank \(d\). Put \(S=k[x_1,\dots,x_n]\), where \(k\) is a field and where this polynomial ring is generated by variables \(x_1,\dots,x_n\) in \({\mathbb N}^d\)-degrees \(a_1,\dots,a_n\), respectively. The toric ideal \(I_{\mathcal A}\) is the kernel of the homomorphism \(S\rightarrow k[t_1,\dots,t_d]\) that maps \(x_i\) to \(t_1^{a_{i1}}\cdots t_d^{a_{id}}\) for \(1\leq i\leq n\). A homogeneous ideal \(M\) is called \({\mathcal A}\)-graded if the quotient \(S/M\) has the same multigraded Hilbert function as the toric ring \(S/I_{\mathcal A}\). In another article [``Toric Hilbert schemes'', Duke Math. J., (to appear)], the authors introduce the toric Hilbert scheme \({\mathcal H}_{\mathcal A}\), which parametrizes \({\mathcal A}\)-graded ideals, and show that this scheme can be covered by finitely many open sets centered at monomial ideals. Here, the authors find local equations for this toric Hilbert scheme by determining the local ring at such a monomial ideal. The proof uses a reduction process based on Mora's tangent cone algorithm. In the final section, the authors obtain a criterion for an ideal to be \({\mathcal A}\)-graded. This leads to an algorithm for computing all \({\mathcal A}\)-graded monomial ideals whose radical is the Stanley-Reiser ideal of a given triangulation of \({\mathcal A}\). This also gives a singly exponential bound on the degree up to which one must check to conclude that an ideal is \({\mathcal A}\)-graded, proving a conjecture of Sturmfels.