Monomial ideals with primary components given by powers of monomial prime ideals (Q405181)

Let \(S=k[x_1,\ldots,x_n]\) be a polynomial ring over a field \(k\). Let \(I\) be a monomial ideal of \(S\). We say that \(I\) is an ideal of intersection type if \(I\) can be decomposed as an intersection of powers of monomial prime ideals. Ideals of this type appeared in the literature, for example defining ideals of tetrahedral curves, or the so-called intersections of Veronese type ideals are all ideals of intersection type. The paper under review considers the following problems: When is \(I\) an ideal of intersection type? What is the decomposition of \(I\) in to powers of monomial prime ideal in that case? Find all the ideals of intersection type (or strong intersection type, to be defined below) belonging to distinguished classes of monomial ideals, e.g., polymatroidal ideals, Borel type ideals or powers of edge ideals. For any prime ideal \(\mathfrak p\) generated by a subset of variables (namely being monomial prime ideal), denote by \(S(\mathfrak p)\) the polynomial ring on the variables containing in \(\mathfrak p\). The ideal of \(S(\mathfrak p)\) which is generated by all the variables in \(\mathfrak p\) is denote by \(\mathfrak m_{\mathfrak p}\). The monomial localization \(I(\mathfrak p)\) of \(I\) at \(\mathfrak p\) is the image of \(I\) under the map \(S\to S(\mathfrak p)\) fixing all variables in \(\mathfrak p\) and sending the other variables to \(1\). Hence for example, if \(I=(x_1^2,x_1x_2,x_3^2)\in S=k[x_1,x_2,x_3]\) and \(\mathfrak p=(x_1,x_3)\) then \(I(\mathfrak p)=(x_1,x_3^2)\). Denote by \(\tilde{I}\) the saturation of \(I\) and \(\min(I)\) the minimal degree of a homogeneous generator of \(I\). Denote by \(\max M\) the number \(\sup\{i: M_i\neq 0\}\) for a graded \(S\)-module \(M\). The first main result characterizes ideals of intersection type among monomial ideals. { Theorem 1}: Let \(I\) be a monomial ideal of \(S\). Then the following statements are equivalent: (i) \(I\) is of intersection type, (ii) For any \(\mathfrak p \in \text{Ass} (S/I)\), there exists a number \(a_{\mathfrak p}\) such that \(I(\mathfrak p)=\widetilde{I(\mathfrak p)}\cap {\mathfrak m_{\mathfrak p}}^{a_{\mathfrak p}}\). (iii) For any associated prime \(\mathfrak p\) of \(S/I\), we have \(\min (I(\mathfrak p))>\max \text{Soc}(S(\mathfrak p)/I(\mathfrak p))\). Moreover, if \(I=\bigcap_{i=1}^r \mathfrak {\mathfrak p_i}^{d_i}\) is an irredundant decomposition of \(I\) into powers of monomial prime ideals, then \(\text{Ass}(S/I)=\{\mathfrak p_1,\ldots,\mathfrak p_r\}\) and \(d_i=\max \text{Soc}(S(\mathfrak p_i)/I(\mathfrak p_i))+1\) for all \(1\leq i\leq r\). Therefore, there is a unique such irredundant decomposition, which the authors call the \textit{canonical primary decomposition}. A point to keep in mind is that if \(I\) has embedded primes, there are possibly primary decompositions of \(I\) which differ from the canonical one. If \(I\) is of intersection type, and \(I=\bigcap_{\mathfrak p \in \text{Ass}(S/I)} \mathfrak {\mathfrak p}^{d_{\mathfrak p}}\) is the canonical primary decomposition, there is an inequality \(d_{\mathfrak p} \leq \text{reg} I(\mathfrak p)\) for any associated prime \(\mathfrak p\) of \(S/I\). For each such \(\mathfrak p\), the equality happens if and only if \(I(\mathfrak p)\) has a linear resolution over \(S(\mathfrak p)\). The ideal \(I\) is said to be of strong intersection type if for all associated prime \(\mathfrak p\), the equality \(d_{\mathfrak p} = \text{reg} I(\mathfrak p)\) occurs. The next sections of the paper study classes of ideals which are of intersection (or strong intersection) type. The sources of monomial ideals to be studied include polymatroidal, Borel type and powers of edge ideals. For example, it is proved that polymatroidal ideals are of strong intersection type (Proposition 5), and their canonical primary decompositions are determined (Theorem 8). The paper concludes with a section on properties of ideals of intersection types. The authors study a wide range of problems which are of interest to algebraists and combinatorists.