Edge ideals with almost maximal finite index and their powers (Q2052835)

Suppose that \(K\) is a field and \(G\) is a simple undirected graph with vertex set \(\{1, \ldots, n\}\) and edge set \(E(G)\) without any isolated vertex. Recall that the edge ideal \(I(G)\) of \(G\) is the ideal generated by \(\{x_ix_j|\{i,j\}\in E(G)\}\) in \(R=K[x_1\ldots, x_n]\). For any graded ideal \(I\) of \(R\) generated in a single degree \(d\), the Green-Lazarsfeld index (briefly, index) of \(I\) is \[\mathrm{index}(I)=\inf \{i| \exists j>i+d:\, \beta_{i,j}(I)\neq 0\}\] where \(\beta_{i,j}(I)\) are the graded Betti numbers of \(I\). Suppose that \(I=I(G)\). It is well-known that \(\mathrm{index}(I)=\infty\), that is, \(I\) has a linear resolution if and only if the complement of \(G\) is chordal. Also in the paper \textit{M. Bigdeli} et al. [Commun. Algebra 46, No. 3, 1080--1095 (2018; Zbl 1428.13032)] have proved that the index of \(I\) achieves its maximal possible finite value (that is, \(\mathrm{index}(I)=\) projective dimension of \(I\)), if and only if the complement of \(G\) is a cycle with length at least 4. Now in this paper, the author combinatorially characterizes the graphs \(G\) such that the index of \(I=I(G)\) is exactly one less than the projective dimension of \(I\) and calls such ideals, ideals with almost maximal finite index. Then she uses this characterization to prove that if \(I\) has almost maximal finite index, then \(I^s\) has a linear resolution for all \(s\geq 2\) if and only if \(G\) is gap-free (that is, \(G\) has no induced subgraph isomorphic to two disjoint edges).