Systems of parameters and the Cohen-Macaulay property (Q5896848)

The study of Cohen-Macaulay property of algebras associated with various combinatorial objects is one of the central areas in Combinatorial Commutative Algebra. When the defining ideal of a combinatorial algebra is a monomial ideal, then \textit{M. Hochster}'s formula [in: Ring Theory II, Proc. 2nd Okla. Conf. 1975, 171--223 (1977; Zbl 0351.13009)] and its extension by \textit{Y. Takayama} [Bull. Math. Soc. Sci. Math. Roum., Nouv. Sér. 48(96), No. 3, 327--344 (2005; Zbl 1092.13020)] are powerful tools to study various homological properties of that algebra including the Cohen-Macaulay property. In this paper, the authors give a criterion of the Cohen-Macaulay property of some combinatorial algebras by finding a suitable system of parameters (in short ``s.o.p'') and next showing that they form a regular sequence. Let \(P\) be a poset which is disjoint a union of two sets \(C_1\) and \(C_2\) , where \(C_1 = x_1\prec x_2\prec\cdots\prec x_n\) and \(C_2 = y_1\prec y_2\prec\cdots\prec y _n\) are maximal chains in \(P\). Let \(\bigtriangleup(P)\) denote the order complex of \(P\) and \(K[\Delta(P )]\) denote the associated algebra where \(K\) is a field. One of the main result of this paper is the following: The associated algebra \(K[\Delta(P )]\) is Cohen-Macaulay if and only if \(\Delta\) is pure shellable if and only if \(P\) satisfies the following two conditions: (1) if \(x_i\prec\cdot y_j\) or \(y_i\prec\cdot x_j\), then \(j = i + 1\) and (2) \(\{x_i, y_{i+1}\} \in\Delta\) implies that \(\{x_{i+1} , y_{i}\} \in\Delta\). Next the authors introduce the notion of monomial ideals of König type. This can be thought of as a generalization of edge ideals of König graphs. It is shown that a monomial ideal \(I\) in the polynomial ideal \(S = K[x_1 , \cdots, x_n ]\) is of König type if and only if the residue class ring \(S/I\) admits a system of parameters of the form \(x_i - x_j\) for suitable \(i\) and \(j\). This is the second main result of the paper. As an application of this result one gets an algebraic characterization of König graphs. Using this special type of s.o.p a combinatorial characterization of Cohen-Macaulay König graph is also obtained. Finally for any simplicial complex \(\Delta\), a universal standard system of parameter for \(K[\Delta]\) is constructed and and using this s.o.p a criterion for Cohen-Macaulayness of \(K[\Delta]\) is presented.