Depth and regularity modulo a principal ideal (Q2633457)

In the paper under review, the authors study the relationship between depth and regularity of a homogeneous ideal \(I\) and those of \((I,f)\) and \((I:f)\), where \(f\) is a linear form or a monomial. More precisely, let \(R=k[x_1, \ldots, x_n]\) be a polynomial ring over a field \(k\). It is shown that if \(I=J+fH\), where \(J\) and \(H\) are homogeneous ideals in \(R\) and \(f\) is a linear form which is a non-zerodivisor of \(R/J\), then \begin{itemize} \item[(i)] \(\operatorname{depth}(R/I)\in\{\operatorname{depth}(R/(I:f)), \operatorname{depth}(R/(I,f))\}\), and \item[(ii)] \(\operatorname{reg}(R/I)\in\{\operatorname{reg}(R/(I:f))+1, \operatorname{reg}(R/(I,f))\}\). \end{itemize} It is also proven that if \(I\) is a monomial ideal and \(f\) is an arbitrary monomial, then \begin{itemize} \item[(i)] \(\operatorname{depth}(R/I)\in\{\operatorname{depth}(R/(I:f)), \operatorname{depth}(R/(I,f))\}\), and \item[(ii)] \(\operatorname{depth}(R/I)=\operatorname{depth}(R/(I:f))\) provided that \(\operatorname{depth}(R/(I,f))\geq \operatorname{depth}(R/(I:f))\). \end{itemize} If moreover \(f=x\) is a variable, then \begin{itemize} \item[(i)] \(\operatorname{reg}(R/I)=\operatorname{reg}(R/(I:x))+1\) provided that, \(\operatorname{reg}(R/(I:x))> \operatorname{reg}(R/(I,x))\). \item[(ii)] \(\operatorname{reg}(R/I)\in\{\operatorname{reg}(R/(I,x))+1, \operatorname{reg}(R/(I,x))\}\) provided that \(\operatorname{reg}(R/(I:x))=\operatorname{reg}(R/(I,x))\). \item[(iii)] \(\operatorname{reg}(R/I)=\operatorname{reg}(R/(I,x))\) provided that \(\operatorname{reg}(R/(I:x))<\operatorname{reg}(R/(I,x))\). \end{itemize} The authors also study depth and regularity of powers of ideals of the form \((I,f)\). Indeed, let \(R\) be a positively graded algebra over a field, and let \(I\) be a graded ideal in \(R\). It is proved that if \(f\neq 0\) is a form in \(R\) which is a non-zerodivisor of \(R/I^t\) for all \(t\leq s\), then \begin{itemize} \item[(i)] \(\operatorname{depth}(R/(I,f)^s)=\min_{t\leq s} \operatorname{depth}(R/I^t)-1\), and \item[(ii)] \(\operatorname{reg}(R/(I,f)^s)-s\deg f =\max_{t\leq s} \{\operatorname{reg}(R/I^t)-t\deg f\}\). \end{itemize} Finally, several interesting consequences on depth and regularity of edge ideals of hypergraphs are obtained.