On mixed Hessians and the Lefschetz properties (Q2001391)

For a graded Artinian algebra \(A\), the strong Lefschetz property (SLP) means that the multiplication \(\times \ell^d : [A]_{t-d} \rightarrow [A]_t\) has maximal rank, for all \(t\) and all \(d\). The weak Lefschetz property (WLP) is the case \(d=1\) of \(SLP\). The Hessian matrix of a homogeneous polymomial \(f\) is the matrix of its second derivatives and its Hessian is the determinant of this matrix. The study of such matrices, and their connections to the geometry of the hypersurface defined by \(f\) go back to Gauss. Hessians of higher degree were introduced by Maeno and Watanabe, who used them to study the SLP for Artinian Gorenstein algebras. An algebra is presented by quadrics if it is isomorphic to the quotient of a polynomial ring by a homogeneous ideal generated by quadrics. In a previous paper, the authors used Hessians to disprove a conjecture of the reviewer and Nagel about Artinian Gorenstein algebras presented by quadrics, namely that such algebras necessarily have the WLP. They produced a family of counterexamples. In this paper the authors return to this family to extend their earlier work. To do this, they introduce mixed Hessians and show their connection to the Lefschetz properties. They also refine the combinatorial methods used in their earlier paper. They address the question of finding algebras of minimal codimension failing WLP. In socle degree 3 they produce an example in codimension 8. More generally they have nice results giving bounds.