Homogenization of a nonsymmetric embedding-dimension-three numerical semigroup. (Q381235)

An affine semigroup is a finitely generated submonoid \(S\) of the monoid \((\mathbb N^k,+)\). If \(\{x_1,\ldots,x_e\}\) is a generating set of \(S\) then \(S\) is isomorphic to a quotient \(\mathbb N^e/\sigma\), where \(\sigma\) is a congruence in the monoid \(\mathbb N^e\). A generating set for \(\sigma\) of minimal size is called a minimal presentation of \(S\) and \(S\) is said to be uniquely presented if it has a unique minimal presentation. If \(k=1\) and \(\mathbb N\setminus S\) is finite, \(S\) is called a numerical semigroup and \(F=\max\mathbb Z\setminus S\) is its Frobenius number. A numerical semigroup \(S\) is symmetric if for every \(z\in\mathbb Z\) we have \(z\in S\Leftrightarrow F-z\notin S\). In the paper under review, the authors consider three-generated numerical semigroups \(S=\langle n_1,n_2,n_3\rangle\subseteq\mathbb N\) and their homogenization \(\overline S=\langle (1,0),(1,n_1),(1,n_2),(1,n_3)\rangle\subseteq\mathbb N^2\). The semigroup \(S\) corresponds to a monomial curve in \(\mathbb A^3\), while \(\overline S\) corresponds to a monomial curve in \(\mathbb P^3\). The main purpose of the paper is to describe explicitly a minimal presentation of \(\overline S\) when \(S\) is not symmetric, showing that \(\overline S\) is uniquely presented in this case. This is achieved via a case-by-case analysis of the invariants for the relations of three-generated numerical semigroups introduced by \textit{J. Herzog} [Manuscr. Math. 3, 175-193 (1970; Zbl 0211.33801)]. Then the authors apply a result from \textit{J. C. Rosales} et al. [Commun. Algebra 26, No. 8, 2543-2558 (1998; Zbl 0910.20042)] to characterize, under the assumptions above, those semigroups \(S\) for which the semigroup ring \(\Bbbk[\overline S]\) is Cohen-Macaulay, recovering thus a result of \textit{H. Bresinsky} [Linear Algebra Appl. 59, 121-129 (1984; Zbl 0542.14022)]. Finally, an immediate consequence of the main results is a procedure to compute the possible catenary degrees of elements in \(\overline S\).