Stability of depths of symbolic powers of Stanley-Reisner ideals (Q502724)

Let \(\mathbb{K}\) be a field and \(R=\mathbb{K}[x_1,\dots,x_r]\) be the polynomial ring in \(r\) variables over \(\mathbb{K}\). Let \(I\) be a homogeneous ideal in \(R\). By a theorem of Brodmann, \(\text{depth}(R/I^n)\) is constant for large \(n\). The smallest number \(n^{\ast}\) for which \(\text{depth}(R/I^n)=\text{depth}(R/I^{n^{\ast}})\) for all \(n\geq n^{\ast}\) is called the index of depth stability of \(I\). It is natural to compute or find a bound for the index of depth stability of an ideal. A related problem is to consider the symbolic powers of \(I\) instead of its ordinary powers. It is known by [\textit{L. T. Hoa} et al., Math. Proc. Camb. Philos. Soc. 149, No. 2, 229--246 (2010; Zbl 1200.13021)] that \(\text{depth}(R/I^{(n)})\) is constant for large \(n\), when \(I\) is a Stanley-Reisner ideal. Hence, for a Stanley-Reisner ideal \(I\), one can define \[ n_0(I):=\min\{m\geq 1 \mid \text{depth}(R/I^{(n)})=\text{depth}(R/I^{(m)}) \;\text{for \;all} \;n\geq m\}. \] Let \(I\) be a Stanley-Reisner ideal. In the paper under review, the authors compute the limit value of \(\text{depth}(R/I^{(n)})\) and determine upper bounds for \(n_0(I)\). To be more precise, let \(\mathcal{R}_s(I)=\bigoplus_{n\geq 0}I^{(n)}\) denote the symbolic Rees algebra of \(I\) and define the symbolic analytic spread of \(I\), denoted by \(\ell_s(I)\), to be the Krull dimension of \(\mathcal{R}_s(I)/{{\mathfrak{m}}\mathcal{R}_s(I)}\), where \(\mathfrak{m}=(x_1,\ldots,x_n)\) is the maximal ideal of \(R\). The authors use \textit{Y. Takayama}'s Formula [Bull. Math. Soc. Sci. Math. Roum., Nouv. Sér. 48(96), No. 3, 327--344 (2005; Zbl 1092.13020)] to prove that for every \(n\geq 1\) we have \(\text{depth} R/I^{(n)}\geq r- \ell_s(I)\) and if moreover \(n \geq r(r + 1) \text{bight}(I)^{r/2}\), then \(\text{depth} R/I^{(n)}= r- \ell_s(I)\). In other words, \(n_0(I)\leq r(r + 1) \text{bight}(I)^{r/2}\). Next the authors consider the unmixed squarefree monomial ideals of height two. Such an ideal is the cover ideal \(J(G)\) of a graph \(G\). In this case the situation is even more interesting. It is shown that the symbolic analytic spread of \(J(G)\) is equal to \(\nu_{o}(G)+1\) and \(n_0(J(G))\leq 2\nu_{o}(G)-1\), where \(\nu_{o}(G)\) denotes the ordered matching number of \(G\). The authors also provide a class of graphs for which the equality \(n_0(J(G))\leq 2\nu_{o}(G)-1\) holds. Furthermore it is proved that sequence \(\{\text{depth}(R/J(G)^{n})\}_{n=1}^{\infty}\) is non-increasing.