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We investigate quotients by radical monomial ideals for which $T^2$, the second cotangent cohomology module, vanishes. The dimension of the graded components of $T^2$, and thus their vanishing, depends only on the combinatorics of the corresponding simplicial complex. We give both a complete characterization and a full list of one dimensional complexes with $T^2=0$. We characterize the graded components of $T^2$ when the simplicial complex is a uniform matroid. Finally, we show that $T^2$ vanishes for all matroids of corank at most two and conjecture that all connected matroids with vanishing $T^2$ are of corank at most two., Comment: 13 pages

We find a combinatorial formula which computes the first cotangent cohomology module of Stanley-Reisner rings associated to matroids. For arbitrary simplicial complexes we provide upper bounds for the dimensions of the multigraded components of T^1. For specific degrees we prove that these bounds are reached if and only if the simplicial complex is a matroid, obtaining thus a new characterization for matroids. Furthermore, the graded first cotangent cohomology turns out to be a complete invariant for nondiscrete matroids., Comment: 11 pages

We study deformations of affine toric varieties. The entire deformation theory of these singularities is encoded by the so-called versal deformation. The main goal of our paper is to construct the homogeneous part of some degree -R of this, i.e. a maximal deformation with prescribed tangent space T^1(-R) for a given character R. To this aim we use the polyhedron obtained by cutting the rational cone defining the affine singularity with the hyperplane defined by [R=1]. Under some length assumptions on the edges of this polyhedron, we provide the versal deformation for primitive degrees R., Comment: 32 pages, to appear in Journal of Algebra

For an arbitrary rational polyhedron we consider its decompositions into Minkowski summands and, dual to this, the free extensions of the associated pair of semigroups. Being free for the pair of semigroups is equivalent to flatness for the corresponding algebras. Our main result is phrased in this dual setup: the category of free extensions always contains an initial object, which we describe explicitly. These objects seem to be related to unique liftings in log geometry. Further motivation comes from the deformation theory of the associated toric singularity., Comment: 51 pages

What kind of reduced monomial schemes can be obtained as a Gr\"obner degeneration of a smooth projective variety? Our conjectured answer is: only Stanley-Reisner schemes associated to acyclic Cohen-Macaulay simplicial complexes. This would imply, in particular, that only curves of genus zero have such a degeneration. We prove this conjecture for degrevlex orders, for elliptic curves over real number fields, for boundaries of cross-polytopes, and for leafless graphs. We discuss consequences for rational and F-rational singularities of algebras with straightening laws., Comment: 12 pages

A central question in liaison theory asks whether every Cohen-Macaulay, graded ideal of a standard graded K-algebra belongs to the same G-liaison class of a complete intersection. In this paper we answer this question positively for toric ideals defining edge subrings of bipartite graphs., Comment: 8 pages

We show that the virtual cohomological dimension of a Coxeter group is essentially the regularity of the Stanley--Reisner ring of its nerve. Using this connection between geometric group theory and commutative algebra, as well as techniques from the theory of hyperbolic Coxeter groups, we study the behavior of the Castelnuovo--Mumford regularity of square-free quadratic monomial ideals. We construct examples of such ideals which exhibit arbitrarily high regularity after linear syzygies for arbitrarily many steps. We give a doubly logarithmic bound on the regularity as a function of the number of variables if these ideals are Cohen--Macaulay., Comment: 22 pages, v2: final version as in Compositio Math

We show that for every positive integer R there exist monomial ideals generated in degree two, with linear syzygies, and regularity of the quotient equal to R. Such examples can not be found among Gorenstein ideals since the regularity of their quotients is at most four. We also show that for most monomial ideals generated in degree two and with linear syzygies the regularity grows at most doubly logarithmically in the number of variables.

We prove that if a standard determinantal scheme is level, then its h-vector is a log-concave pure O-sequence, and conjecture that the converse also holds. Among other cases, we prove the conjecture in codimension two, or when the entries of the corresponding degree matrix are positive. We also find formulae for the h-vector in terms of the degree matrix., Comment: 12 pages

We show that monomial ideals generated in degree two satisfy a conjecture by Eisenbud, Green and Harris. In particular we give a partial answer to a conjecture of Kalai by proving that $h$-vectors of flag Cohen-Macaulay simplicial complexes are $h$-vectors of Cohen-Macaulay balanced simplicial complexes., Comment: 3 pages

It is shown that the h-vectors of Stanley-Reisner rings of three classes of matroids are pure O-sequences. The classes are (a) matroids that are truncations of other matroids, or more generally of Cohen-Macaulay complexes, (b) matroids whose dual is (rank + 2)-partite, and (c) matroids of Cohen-Macaulay type at most five. Consequences for the computational search for a counterexample to a conjecture of Stanley are discussed., Comment: 16 pages, v2: various small improvements, accepted by Bulletin of the London Math. Society

We partition in classes the set of matroids of fixed dimension on a fixed vertex set. In each class we identify two special matroids, respectively with minimal and maximal h-vector in that class. Such extremal matroids also satisfy a long-standing conjecture of Stanley. As a byproduct of this theory we establish Stanley's conjecture in various cases, for example the case of Cohen-Macaulay type less than or equal to 3., Comment: 18 pages, 2 figures

Do the Veronese rings of an algebra with straightening laws (ASL) still have an ASL structure? We give positive answers to this question in some particular cases, namely for the second Veronese algebra of Hibi rings and of discrete ASLs. We also prove that the Veronese modules of the polynomial ring have a structure of module with straightening laws. In dimension at most three we present a poset construction that has the required combinatorial properties to support such a structure., Comment: 14 pages; to appear in Journal of Commutative Algebra

We parametrize the affine space of Artinian affine ideals of K[x,y] which have a given initial ideal with respect to the degree reverse lexicographic term order. The fact that the term order is degree compatible allows us to extend the parametrization to the projective case, namely zero-dimensional subschemes of the projective plane, with some extra assumption and to determine the Betti strata of these Groebner cells. This allows us to prove a formula due to A. Iarrobino for the codimension of the Betti strata of codimension two punctual schemes in the projective plane., Comment: 23 pages

The algebra of basic covers of a graph G, denoted by \A(G), was introduced by Juergen Herzog as a suitable quotient of the vertex cover algebra. In this paper we show that if the graph is bipartite then \A(G) is a homogeneous algebra with straightening laws and thus is Koszul. Furthermore, we compute the Krull dimension of \A(G) in terms of the combinatorics of G. As a consequence we get new upper bounds on the arithmetical rank of monomial ideals of pure codimension 2. Finally, we characterize the Cohen-Macaulay property and the Castelnuovo-Mumford regularity of the edge ideal of a certain class of graphs., Comment: 23 pages

Starting from an unpublished conjecture of Kalai and from a conjecture of Eisenbud, Green and Harris, we study several problems relating h-vectors of Cohen-Macaulay, flag simplicial complexes and face vectors of simplicial complexes., Comment: 20 pages, 3 figures. To appear in Math. Scand

J. Herzog, T. Hibi, N. V. Trung and X. Zheng characterize the vertex cover algebras which are standard graded. In this paper we give a simple combinatorial criterion for the standard graded property of vertex cover algebras in the case of quasi-trees. We also give an example of how this criterion works and compute the maximal degree of a minimal generator in that case.

We study the basic $k$-covers of a bipartite graph $G$; the algebra $\AG$ they span, first studied by Herzog, is the fiber cone of the Alexander dual of the edge ideal. We characterize when $\AG$ is a domain in terms of the combinatorics of $G$; if follows from a result of Hochster that when $\AG$ is a domain, it is also Cohen-Macaulay. We then study the dimension of $\AG$ by introducing a geometric invariant of bipartite graphs, the "graphical dimension". We show that the graphical dimension of $G$ is not larger than $\dim(\AG)$, and equality holds in many cases (e.g. when $G$ is a tree, or a cycle). Finally, we discuss applications of this theory to the arithmetical rank., Comment: 31 pages

The authors T.Harima, J.C.Migliore, U.Nagel and J.Watanabe characterized the Hilbert function of algbebras with the Lefschetz property. We extend this characterization to algebras with the Lefschetz property m times. We also give upper bounds for the Betti numbers of Artinian algebras with a given Hilbert function and with the Lefschetz property m times and describe the cases in which these bounds are reached., Comment: 19 pages