Syzygies of the apolar ideals of the determinant and permanent (Q2187740)

Given a polynomial \(f\in \mathbb K[y_1,\ldots,y_k]\) one defines its apolar ideal \(f^{\bot}\) as \[f^{\bot}=\{g\in\mathbb K[y_1,\ldots,y_k] : \partial g(f)=0\}.\] Recall that to a monomial \(y^{\alpha}=y_1^{\alpha_1}\ldots y_k^{\alpha_k}\) one associates a differential operator \[\frac{\partial}{\partial y^{\alpha}}=\frac{\partial}{\partial y_1^{\alpha_1}\cdots\partial y_k^{\alpha_k}}\] and extends this definition linearly to all polynomials. Thus for \(g=\sum c_{\alpha}y^{\alpha}\) one associates a differential operator \[\partial g= \sum c_{\alpha}\frac{\partial}{\partial y^{\alpha}}.\] The authors of the paper under review are interested in apolar ideals of two specific polynomials \(\mathrm{def}_n\) and \(\mathrm{perm}_n\) which are elements of the ring \(\mathbb K[x_{11},\ldots, x_{1n},x_{21},\ldots,x_{nn}]\) defines as \[\mathrm{def}_n=\sum_{\sigma\in S_n} \mathrm{sgn}(\sigma) x_{1\sigma(1)}\ldots x_{n\sigma(n)}\] and \[\mathrm{perm}_n=\sum_{\sigma\in S_n} x_{1\sigma(1)}\ldots x_{n\sigma(n)}.\] [\textit{S. M. Shafiei}, J. Commut. Algebra 7, No. 1, 89--123 (2015; Zbl 1364.13024)] showed that the ideals \((\mathrm{def}_n)^{\bot}\) and \((\mathrm{perm}_n)^{\bot}\) are generated by quadrics. She provided an explicit minimal set of generators. The authors extend this study to the first syzygies. They show that the first syzygies of \((\mathrm{def}_n)^{\bot}\) are linear except in characteristic two, where both polynomials and hence their apolar ideals coincide. Thus \((\mathrm{def}_n)^{\bot}\) satisfies at lest the \(N_3\) property of \textit{M. L. Green} [J. Differ. Geom. 19, 125--167, 168--171 (1984; Zbl 0559.14008)]. On the other hand syzygies of \((\mathrm{perm}_n)^{\bot}\) require also quadratic generators, in arbitrary characteristic. Thus one can distinguish both polynomials by properties of their minimal graded free resolution. The paper is clearly written and all arguments are kept pretty effective, even if some of them are quite involved.