Oriented graphs whose toric ideals are a complete intersection (Q6116633)

An \textit{oriented graph} \(D=(V(D), E(D))\) is an ordered pair \((G,\mathcal{O})\), where \(G\) is a finite simple graph with vertex set \(V(G)\) and edge set \(E(G)\), and \(\mathcal{O}\) is a function \(\mathcal{O} : E(G) \rightarrow V(G) \times V(G)\) such that \(\mathcal{O}(\{a, b\}) = (a, b)\) or \(\mathcal{O}(\{a, b\}) = (b,a)\). We denote \(D=G_{\mathcal{O}}\). Let \(V(D)=\{x_1, \ldots, x_n\}\) and \(E(D)=\{y_1, \ldots, y_m\}\), and for each oriented edge \(y = (x_i, x_j)\in E(D)\) , the characteristic vector of \(y\) is \(v_y = (v^1_y, \ldots, v^n_y) \in \{0, 1,-1\}^n\) such that \(v^i_y =-1 , v^j_y = 1\) and \(v^l_y = 0\) for \(l\neq i, j\). Then, there is an epimorphism of \(k\)-algebras \(\varphi : K[y_1, \ldots, y_m] \Rightarrow K[D]\), where \(\varphi(y_i)=x^{v_i}\). The kernel of \(\varphi\) denoted by \(P_D\) is a binomial prime ideal and is called the \textit{toric ideal} of \(D\). Moreover, a graph \(G\) is a \textit{theta-ring graph} if \(P_{G_{\mathcal{O}}}\) is a binomial complete intersection for each orientation \(\mathcal{O}\) of \(G\). \textit{W. D. Morris jun.} [J. Commut. Algebra 11, No. 2, 241--264 (2019; Zbl 1443.14047)] characterized this property when \(D\) is an acyclic oriented graph. Also, in [\textit{I. García-Marco} and \textit{J. L. Ramírez Alfonsín}, SIAM J. Discrete Math. 29, No. 4, 2267--2276 (2015; Zbl 1326.05026)], the complete intersection property has been studied for matroids. In the present paper, the authors, first, introduce the following definitions: \textbf{Definition. } Let \(D_1\) and \(D_2\) be two oriented graphs such that \(D_1 \cap D_2=\mathcal{Q}\) is an oriented path. Then, the \textit{\(\mathcal{Q}\)-sum} of \(D_1\) and \(D_2\) is the oriented graph \(D = D_1 \cup D_2\). \textbf{Definition. } We define inductively the sets of oriented graphs \(\mathcal{H}_i\) in the following form: \(\mathcal{H}_1 = \{C_{\mathcal{O}} \mid C \text{ is a cycle or an edge and } \mathcal{O} \text{ is an orientation of } C\}\) and \(\mathcal{H}_j = \{D \mid D \text{ is a }\mathcal{Q}\text{-sum of } D_1 \text{ and } D_2 \text{ such that } D_1 \in H_{i_1} , D_2 \in H_{i_2} \text{ and } i_1 + i_2 = j\}.\) We say that an oriented graph \(D\) is a \textit{\(\mathcal{Q}\)-ring graph} if \(D\in \bigcup_{i=1}^\infty \mathcal{H}_j\). After that, the authors investigate the oriented Truemper configurations whose toric ideal is a binomial complete intersection. Some of the important results in this paper are listed below: \textbf{Theorem 3.7.} Let \(D\) the \(\mathcal{Q}\)-sum of \(D_1\) and \(D_2\). If \(P_{D_1}\) and \(P_{D_2}\) are binomial complete intersections, then \(P_D\) is a binomial complete intersection. \textbf{Corollary 3.10.} If \(D\) is a \(\mathcal{Q}\)-ring graph, then \(P_D\) is a binomial complete intersection. \textbf{Theorem 3.15.} If \(G\) is a connected theta-ring graph, then \(D\) is a \(\mathcal{Q}\)-ring graph. \textbf{Proposition 4.2.} Let \(D\) be an oriented theta graph, then \(P_D\) is a binomial complete intersection if and only if at least one principal path of \(D\) is oriented. \textbf{Proposition 5.7.} Let \(D = (G,\mathcal{O})\) be an oriented graph with a non-oriented path \(\mathcal{P}\) such that \(\deg_G(x) = 2\) for each \(x \in V(\mathcal{P}^o)\) and \(G' = G\setminus V(\mathcal{P}^o)\) is connected. If \(P_D\) is a binomial complete intersection, then \(P_{D'}\) is a binomial complete intersection with \(D' = G'_{\mathcal{O}}\).