Separators of fat points in \(\mathbb P^n\). (Q615840)

The authors generalize well-known definitions and results about separators of \(0\)-dimensional reduced schemes to fat point schemes. More precisely if \(Z=\sum_{h=1}^sm_hP_h\) and \(Z'=m_1P_1+\cdots+(m_i-1)P_i+\cdots+m_sP_s\) the separator of the fat point \(P_i\) (of multiplicity \(m_i\)) is a form \(F\in I_{Z'}\setminus I_Z\). Then the notion of the degree of the minimal separators of \(P_i\) of multiplicity \(m_i\) is defined. It is a \(\nu\)-uple of integers where \(\nu=\deg Z-\deg Z'\). Then they show connections with the Hilbert functions and the shifts in the last syzygy module of \(I_Z\). Finally a Cayley-Bacharach type result for homogeneous sets of fat points whose support is a complete intersection is produced.