On the associated primes and the depth of the second power of squarefree monomial ideals (Q393525)

Let \(I\) ba a squarefree monomial ideal in a polynomial ring \(R\) over a field. The authors consider the ideal \(I\) as the edge ideal of a hypergraph, the edge ideal and the cover ideal of a graph. They give combinatorial characterizations for associated primes of the second power of such ideals. They also investigate combinatorial behavior for this power to have positive depth or depth greater than one. Some of the main results are the following: \((*)\) Let \(I\) be the edge ideal of a hypergraph \(\mathcal{H}\) and \(C\) be a subset of the vertex set. Assume that \(\mathcal{H}_C=\{F\cap C \;|\; F\in\mathcal{H}\}\). Theorem 2.2: \(\mathrm{depth} \;R/I^2>0\) if and only if \(\mathcal{H}\) does not have any 2-saturating set. Theorem 4.3: If \(\mathrm{depth} \;R/I^2>1\), then \(\mathrm{diam}\;\Delta^{(1)}\leq 2\). Theorem 3.1: \(P_C\) is an associated prime of \(I^2\) if and only if \(\mathcal{H}_C\) has a 2-saturating set. \((*)\) Let \(I\) be the edge ideal of a graph \(\mathcal{H}\) and \(C\) be a cover of \(\mathcal{H}\). Assume that \(\overline{\mathcal{H}}\) is the graph of the non-edges of \(\mathcal{H}\). Theorem 2.8: \(\mathrm{depth}\; R/I^2>0\) if and only if \(\mathcal{H}\) has no dominating triangle. Theorem 4.8: \(\mathrm{depth} \;R/I^2>1\) if and only if the following conditions are satisfied: (a) \(\mathrm{diam} \;\overline{\mathcal{H}}\leq 2\); (b) For every triangle \(U\) of \(\mathcal{H}\), \(\overline{N(U)}\) has at least two elements and the induced subgraph \(\overline{\mathcal{H}}|_{\overline{N(U)}}\) is connected. Theorem 3.8: \(P_C\) is an associated prime of \(I^2\) if and only if \(C\) is a minimal cover or \(C\) is minimal among the covers containing the neighborhood of a triangle. \((*)\) Let \(I\) be the cover ideal of a graph \(\mathcal{G}\) on the vertex set \(V\). Theorem 5.6: Assume \(V=[n]\), \(n\geq 4\). Then \(\mathrm{depth}\; R/I^2>1\) if and only if the following conditions are satisfied: (a) \(\mathcal{G}\) is not the union of two disjoint edges or a path of length 3; (b) \(\mathcal{G}\) has no induced odd cycle of length \(n-1\); (c) \(\mathcal{G}\) is not a disjoint union of an induced odd cycle of length \(n-2\) and an edge; (d) \(\mathcal{G}\) has no pair of induced odd cycles with vertex set \(C, D\) such that \(V=C\cup D\); (e) \(\mathcal{G}\) is not an odd cycle. Theorem 5.7: \(R/I^2\) satisfies Serre's condition \((S_2)\) if and only if \(I\) is a complete intersection.