Ideals generated by adjacent 2-minors (Q1947252)

Let \(X=(x_{ij})\) be an \(m \times n\)-matrix of indeterminates, and let \(K\) be a field. The ideal of \(K[\{x_{ij} | 1 \leq i \leq m, 1 \leq j \leq n\}]\) generated by all \(t\)-minors of \(X\) is called a \textit{determinantal ideal} and well-studied. In particular, any determinantal ideal is Cohen-Macaulay and prime. In the paper under review, the authors study ideals generated by \textit{adjacent} \(2\)-minors of \(X\), that is, minors of the form \(x_{i,j}x_{i+1,j+1}-x_{i+1,j}x_{i,j+1}\). Note that, motivated by applications to algebraic statistics, primary decompositions of ideals generated by \textit{all} adjacent \(2\)-minors of \(X\) are studied in [\textit{P. Diaconis, D. Eisenbud} and \textit{B. Sturmfels}, Mathematical essays in honor of Gian-Carlo Rota's 65th birthday. Boston, MA: Birkhäuser. Prog. Math. 161, 173--193 (1998; Zbl 0962.05010)] for \(m=2\), and in [\textit{S. Hoşten} and \textit{S. Sullivant}, J. Algebra. 277, 615--642 (2004; Zbl 1073.13007)] for arbitrary \(m\) and \(n\). First, the authors solve the problem when an ideal generated by adjacent \(2\)-minors of \(X\) is prime and the problem when such an ideal has a quadratic Gröbner basis. In particular, if an ideal generated by adjacent \(2\)-minors of \(X\) has a quadratic Gröbner basis, then it is radical. Second, they describe explicitly a primary decomposition of the radical ideal of an ideal generated by adjacent \(2\)-minors under the assumption that the set of generators is convex. (The concept ``convex'' was introduced by \textit{A. Qureshi} [J. Algebra. 357, 279--303 (2012; Zbl 1262.13013)]). Finally, the authors study an ideal generated by a strongly connected configuration of adjacent \(2\)-minors of \(X\), and give some results on the problem when such an ideal is radical.