Initial ideals of Borel type (Q746803)

From the reverse lexicographic generic initial ideal \(\text{gin}(I)\) of a homogeneous ideal \(I \subseteq K[x_1, \dots, x_n]\) we can easily compute invariants of \(I\) such as regularity, projective dimension, depth, and extremal Betti numbers. This is because passing from the \(I\) to \(\text{gin}(I)\) preserves these invariants and because \(\text{gin}(I)\) is Borel-fixed, which allows for easy computation of invariants. However, computing \(\text{gin}(I)\) can be challenging because it relies on generic coordinates. In this paper, the authors explore what information is preserved when passing from \(I\) to the reverse lexicographic initial ideal \(\text{in}(I)\) when the latter is of Borel type, removing the requirement for generic coordinates. They define an ideal to be of Borel type (or weakly stable) when \(I:(x_j)^{\infty} = I:(x_1, \dots, x_j)^{\infty}\) for all \(j=1, \dots, n\). They also offer several equivalent formulations of this condition, including combinatorial conditions [Proposition 2.3] and, in the case of monomial ideals, a condition on certain annihilator modules being of finite length [Proposition 2.8]. The main results of the paper use these definitions to prove that the following properties are preserved when passing from \(I\) to \(\text{in}(I)\) when \(\text{in}(I)\) is of Borel-type: certain annihilator numbers [Theorem 3.1]; extremal Betti numbers [Theorem 3.6]; and reduction numbers [Lemma 4.6]. The preservation of extremal Betti numbers implies that several other properties are also preserved, including projective dimension, depth, Cohen-Macaulayness, and regularity [Corollary 3.7]. These results generalize established results for generic initial ideals. Example 3.9 demonstrates that not all properties preserved by the generic initial ideal are preserved by the initial ideal when it is of Borel-type. Finally, the authors discuss how Borel-type and quasi-stable conditions are related via a change of variables. The work of this paper extends results found in Chapter 4 of the text on Monomial Ideals by \textit{J. Herzog} and \textit{T. Hibi} [Monomial Ideals. London: Springer (2011; Zbl 1206.13001)].