Kähler differentials for fat point schemes in \(\mathbb{P}^1\times\mathbb{P}^1\) (Q2236793)

A fat point ideal is an ideal of the form \(\mathfrak{p}_1^{s_1} \cap \mathfrak{p}_2^{s_2} \cap \cdots \cap \mathfrak{p}_m^{s_m}\), where \(\mathfrak{p}_i\) is the vanishing ideal of a point \(p_i \in \mathbb{P}^n.\) The Hilbert function in degree \(d\) of \(K[x_0,\ldots,x_{n}]/ \mathfrak{p}_1^{s_1} \cap \mathfrak{p}_2^{s_2} \cap \cdots \cap \mathfrak{p}_m^{s_m}\) encodes the number of independent conditions that are imposed by the vanishing to the order \(s_1, s_2, \ldots, s_m\) of forms of degrees \(d\) on the points \(p_1,p_2,\ldots, p_m\). The Alexander-Hirschowitz theorem provides a classification of the Hilbert function in the case \(K=\mathbb{C}\), \(s_1 = s_2 = \cdots = s_m=2\), but in general, not much is at present known about the Hilbert series of this natural class of ideals. In the paper the corresponding problem for \(\mathbb{P}^1 \times \mathbb{P}^1\) is considered. Specifically the Hilbert function of the module of Kähler differentials associated to the coordinate ring is determined in many special cases, including when the support is a complete or almost complete intersection. Also, arithmetically Cohen-Macaulay reduced schemes having the Cayley-Bacharach property are characterized. A large number of examples are provided, which serves as a good help for a reader which is new to the area.