Root polytopes, tropical types, and toric edge ideals (Q7016852)

This paper applies methods from [\textit{A. Dochtermann}, et al., J. Algebra 356, No. 1, 304--324 (2012; Zbl 1316.14116)] to the more general setting of root polytopes and finds interesting connections to other well-studied objects such as determinantal ideals and toric edge ideals.\N\NFor a \(d \times n\) tropical matrix \(A\) with entries in \(\mathbb{R} \cup \{\infty \}\), let \(\mathcal{H} = \mathcal{H}(A)\) denote the corresponding arrangement of \(n\) tropical hyperplanes in \(\mathbb{R}^d/\mathbb{R} 1\). Finite entries of \(A\) define a bipartite graph \(B_A \subseteq K_{d,n}\). The values of these entries define a lifting of the vertices of the polytope \(Q_{B_A}\), which in turn induces a regular subdivision \(\mathcal{S}(A)\) of \(Q_{B_A}\). Matrix \(A\) is called sufficiently generic if \(\mathcal{S}(A)\) is a triangulation. The arrangement \(\mathcal{H}(A)\) also defines a subdivision \(\mathcal{C}(A)\) of \(\mathbb{R}^d/\mathbb{R}1\) called the tropical complex. Also let \(\mathcal{B}(A)\) denote the subcomplex consisting of the bounded cells of \(\mathcal{C}(A)\) and let \(\lambda(B)\) be the recession connectivity of bipartite graph \(B\). One of the results of this paper is a combinatorial formula for the dimension of \(\mathcal{B}(A)\):\N\NTheorem. Let \(B \subset K_{d,n}\) be a connected bipartite graph. Then for any \(d \times n\) tropical matrix \(A\) satisfying \(B = B_A\) we have\N\begin{align*}\N\dim \left( \mathcal{B}(A) \right) \leq \lambda \left( B_A \right) - 1\N\end{align*}\Nwhere equality holds if \(A\) is sufficiently generic.\N\NThe entries of the tropical matrix \(A\) naturally define a term order on the polynomial ring whose variables are given by the vertices of the associated root polytope \(Q_B\). This in turn defines an initial ideal \(\text{in}_A(L)\) of the toric ideal \(L\) defined by \(Q_B\). This paper extends results of [\textit{F. Block} and \textit{J. Yu}, J. Algebr. Comb. 24, No. 1, 103--114 (2006; Zbl 1097.52506)] and [\textit{A. Dochtermann}, et al., J. Algebra 356, No. 1, 304--324 (2012; Zbl 1316.14116)] by relating this ideal to the cotype ideal associated to \(\mathcal{H}(A)\): the fine cotype ideal associated to \(\mathcal{H}\) is the Alexander dual of the largest monomial ideal \(M \left( \text{in}_A(L) \right)\) contained in \(\text{in}_A(L)\).\N\NThe authors apply these results regarding type ideals to provide new insights into homological properties of toric edge ideals of bipartite graphs. For example, because type ideals always have linear resolutions, they give a short proof that toric edge rings of bipartite graphs are Cohen-Macaulay.