Toric Hilbert schemes. (Q1847899)

The classical Hilbert scheme introduced by \textit{A. Grothendieck} [Sém. Bourbaki 1960/1961, Exp. 221 (1961; Zbl 0236.14003)], parametrizes subschemes of \(\mathbb P^r_k, k\) a field, with a given Hilbert polynomial. A toric variety is a variety parametrized by a finite number of monomials \({\mathbf t}^{a_i} = t_1^{a_1}\cdots t_d^{a_d}, i = 1,\ldots,n,\) in the polynomial ring \(k[t_1,\ldots,t_d],\) where \({\mathcal A} = \{a_1,\ldots,a_n\}\) denotes a subset of \(\mathbb N^d \setminus 0\) of \(n\) different vectors. Let \(S = k[x_1,\ldots, x_n]\) denote the polynomial ring in the variables \(x_1,\ldots,x_n\) of degree \(a_1,\ldots, a_n\) respectively. The toric ideal \(I_{\mathcal A}\) is the kernel of the natural map \(S \to k[t_1,\ldots, t_d], x_i \mapsto {\mathbf t}^{a_i}, i = 1,\ldots, n,\) which is a prime \(\mathbb N^d\)-graded ideal. A homogeneous ideal \(M \subset S\) is called \(\mathcal A\)-graded if \(\dim_k (S/M)_b = 1\) if \(b \in \mathbb N \mathcal A\) and \(0\) otherwise. That is, \(S/M\) has the same multigraded Hilbert function as the toric ring \(S/I_{\mathcal A}.\) The authors construct the toric Hilbert scheme \(H_{\mathcal A}\) that parametrizes all ideals with the same multigraded Hilbert function as \(S/I_{\mathcal A},\) satisfying a universality property. It follows that there exists exactly one component containing the point \([I_{\mathcal A}].\) If char\((k)= 0,\) then this component is reduced and so the point \([I_{\mathcal A}]\) on \(H_{\mathcal A}\) is smooth. Moreover, in the case of codim\((S/I_{\mathcal A}) = 2\) the authors prove the following additional results: (1) The toric Hilbert scheme has one component. It is the closure of the orbit of the toric ideal under the torus action. (2) The toric Hilbert scheme is 2-dimensional and smooth. Note that there is no restriction on the characteristic of the field \(k.\) (3) \(H_{\mathcal A}\) is the toric variety of the Gröbner fan of \(I_{\mathcal A}.\) In an unpublished paper, \textit{B. Sturmfels} started with a different construction in order to parametrize all ideals with the same Hilbert function as \(I_{\mathcal A}\) [``The geometry of \(\mathcal A\)-graded algebras'', preprint, \texttt{http://arxiv.org/abs/math.AG/94100032}] .