Blow-up algebras, determinantal ideals, and Dedekind-Mertens-like formulas (Q2363340)

The authors introduce a new class of determinantal ideals associated to certain subregions of a generic symmetric matrix, possibly with holes. They show that the minors generating such an ideal form a Gröbner basis with respect to a suitable term order, and as a result show that the quotient rings are normal Cohen-Macaulay domains that are Koszul. They obtain several results about the initial ideals, the Hilbert function, and the Castelnuovo-Mumford regularity, using methods from liaison theory. These ideals are related to certain blow-up algebras, describing the equations of special fiber rings and Rees algebras when one blows up certain monomial ideals, called specialized Ferrers ideals. These monomial ideals include all strongly stable monomial ideals that are generated in degree two, as well as the edge ideals of threshold and Ferrers graphs. Their results can be viewed as a generalization of the classical Dedekind-Mertens content formula, and suggest possible applications.