Sequentially Cohen-Macaulay Edge Ideals

Associated to a simple undirected graph G is a simplicial complex whose faces correspond to the independent sets of G. We call a graph G shellable if this simplicial complex is a shellable simplicial complex in the non-pure sense of Bjorner-Wachs. We are then interested in determining what families of graphs have the property that G is shellable. We show that all chordal graphs are shellable. Furthermore, we classify all the shellable bipartite graphs; they are precisely the ...

We graph-theoretically characterize triangle-free Gorenstein graphs $G$. As an application, we classify when $I(G)^2$ is Cohen-Macaulay.

We apply some basic notions from combinatorial topology to establish various algebraic properties of edge ideals of graphs and more general Stanley-Reisner rings. In this way we provide new short proofs of some theorems from the literature regarding linearity, Betti numbers, and (sequentially) Cohen-Macaulay properties of edges ideals associated to chordal, complements of chordal, and Ferrers graphs, as well as trees and forests. Our approach unifies (and in many cases streng...

In this short note we prove that the projective dimension of a sequentially Cohen-Macaulay square-free monomial ideal is equal to the maximal height of its minimal primes (also known as the big height), or equivalently, the maximal cardinality of a minimal vertex cover of its facet complex. This in particular gives a formula for the projective dimension of facet ideals of these classes of ideals, which are known to be sequentially Cohen-Macaulay: graph trees and simplicial tr...

We classify all Cohen-Macaulay chordal graphs. In particular. it is shown that a chordal graph is Cohen-Macaulay if and only if its unmixed.

Let $I(G_{\mathbf{w}})$ be the edge ideal of an edge-weighted graph $(G,\mathbf{w})$. We prove that $I(G_{\mathbf{w}})$ is sequentially Cohen-Macaulay for all weight functions $w$ if and only if $G$ is a Woodroofe graph.

Let C be a clutter and let I(C) be its edge ideal. This is a survey paper on the algebraic and combinatorial properties of R/I(C) and C, respectively. We give a criterion to estimate the regularity of R/I(C) and apply this criterion to give new proofs of some formulas for the regularity. If C is a clutter and R/I(C) is sequentially Cohen-Macaulay, we present a formula for the regularity of the ideal of vertex covers of C and give a formula for the projective dimension of R/I(...

Binomial edge ideals IG of a graph G were introduced by [4]. They found some classes of graphs G with the property that IG is a Cohen-Macaulay ideal. This might happen only for few classes of graphs. A certain generalization of being Cohen-Macaulay, named approximately Cohen-Macaulay, was introduced by S. Goto in [3]. We study classes of graphs whose binomial edge ideal are approximately Cohen-Macaulay. Moreover we use some homological methods in order to compute their Hilber...

This paper uses dualities between facet ideal theory and Stanley-Reisner theory to show that the facet ideal of a simplicial tree is sequentially Cohen-Macaulay. The proof involves showing that the Alexander dual (or the cover dual, as we call it here) of a simplicial tree is a componentwise linear ideal. We conclude with additional combinatorial properties of simplicial trees.

In this paper I give a combinatorial characterization of all the Cohen-Macaulay weighted chordal graphs. In particular, it is shown that a weighted chordal graph is Cohen- Macaulay if and only if it is unmixed.