Cohen-Macaulayness of powers of two-dimensional squarefree monomial ideals (Q848517)

Let \([X] = k[x_1,\dots, x_n]\), \(n\geq 3\), be the polynomial ring over a field \(k\) and consider an unmixed two-dimensional squarefree monomial ideal \(I\subset k[X]\), i.e., Stanley-Reisner ideal of the one-dimensional simplicial complex associated with a graph \(G\) on the vertex set \(\{1,\dots, n\}\). It is well known that \(I\) is a Cohen-Macaulay ideal if \(G\) is a connected graph. In the paper under review, the authors consider the problem to characterize Cohen-Macaulayness of ordinary powers \(I^m\) and symbolic powers \(I^{(m)}\) for \(m\geq 2\), in terms of the combinatorics on \(G\). In the case of \(m\geq 3\), they show that \(I^{(m)}\) is Cohen-Macaulay if and only if every pair of disjoint edges of \(G\) is contained in a cycle of length~4 (Theorem~2.4) and \(I^{(m)} = I^{m}\) if and only if \(n=3\) or \(4\) and \(G\) is one of the following: (i) a path, (ii) a cycle, (iii) the union of two disjoint edges (Theorem~3.3). From these results we have that \(I^m\) is Cohen-Macaulay if and only if \(n=3\) or \(G\) is a cycle of length~4. On the other hand, in the case of \(m=2\), \(I^{(2)}\) is Cohen-Macaulay if and only if \(\text{diam}(G)\leq 2\), where \(\text{diam}(G)\) is the maximal distance between two vertices and the distance is the minimal length of paths connecting two vertices (Theorem~2.3), and \(I^{(2)}=I^2\) if and only if \(n=3, 4\) or \(5\) and \(G\) is one of the following: (i) a path, (ii) a cycle, (iii) union of two disjoint edges (Theorem~3.2) From these results, we have that \(I^2\) is Cohen-Macaulay if and only if \(n=3\) or \(G\) is a cycle of length~4 or 5. Finally, the authors show an application to standard gradedness of vertex cover algebra (Corollary~3.6).