Fiber cones of rational normal scrolls are Cohen-Macaulay (Q2164984)

Let \(c=\sum_{j+1}^dn_j\) be a partition of a positive integer \(c\) into \(d\) positive integers \(n_j\). For each \(j\), let \(\mathcal C_j\subseteq \mathbb P^{c+d-1}\) be a degree \(n_j\) rational normal curve with complementary linear spans and, let \(\varphi_j : \mathbb P^1 \to \mathcal{C}_j\) be the corresponding isomorphism. Then the related rational normal scroll is simply the following \[\mathcal{S}_{n_1,\ldots,n_d}=:\bigcup_{p\in\mathbb P^1}\overline{\{\varphi_1(p),\ldots,\varphi_d(p)\}}\subseteq \mathbb P^{c+d-1}.\] The ideal \(I=:I_{{n_1},\ldots,n_d}\) of the rational normal scroll \(\mathcal{S}_{n_1,\ldots,n_d}\) is generated by the maximal minors of a matrix with \(2c\) variables \(x_{ij}\), which is an ideal of the polynomial ring \(R=:\mathbb K[X]\) of the \(2c\) variables. The Rees algebra \(\mathcal{R}(I)\) of \(I\) is defined by \(\mathcal{R}(I) :=\oplus_{i\ge 0}I^it^i \subseteq R[t]\) in which \(t\) is a new variable, and the related fiber cone is \(\mathcal{F}(I) = \mathcal{R}(I)\otimes_R \mathbb K \cong \mathbb K[I] \subseteq R\). In this paper, the authors show that the fiber cones \(\mathcal{F}(I)\) of rational normal scrolls are Cohen-Macaulay. As an application, they compute the Castelnuovo-Mumford regularities and \(a\)-invariants, as well as the reduction number of the defining ideals of the rational normal scrolls. The authors also characterize the Gorensteinness of the fiber cone and, show that \(\mathcal{F}(I_{{n_1},\ldots,n_d})\) is Gorenstein if and only if \(c\leq 4 + d\).