Shedding vertices and ass-decomposable monomial ideals (Q6158191)

Firstly, an algebraic interpretation for shedding vertices is obtained. This interpretation yields the following result: If \(\Delta\) has a shedding vertex such that its link and deletion are sequentially Cohen-Macaulay/Cohen-Macaulay, then \(\Delta\) is also sequentially Cohen-Macaulay/Cohen-Macaulay; and the definition of ass-decomposable ideal: A monomial ideal \(I\) is called ass-decomposable, if either it is a primary ideal or else there exists a variable \(x_i \in \sqrt I\) and a positive integer \(k\) such that (i) \(\mathrm{ass}(I, x_i^k) = \{p \in \mathrm{ass}(I ): x_i \in p\}\); (ii) \((I, x_i^k)\) and \(I : x_i^k\) are ass-decomposable. Then it is shown that vertex decomposability of a simplicial complex is equivalent to ass-decomposability of its Stanley-Reisner ideal. It can be seen that when \(\Delta\) is sequentially Cohen-Macaulay, \[ \mathrm{depth}(R/I_\Delta) = \min\{\dim (R/p) : p \in \mathrm{ass}(I_\Delta)\}. \] As with other main results, it is shown that ass-decomposable ideals satisfy this depth formula and unmixed ass-decomposable monomial ideals have Cohen-Macaulay quotient ring. Some results about the regularity of such ideals are also gained.