A simple polytope P is called B-rigid if its combinatorial type is determined by the cohomology ring of the moment-angle manifold $\mathcal {Z}_P$ over P. We show that any tensor product decomposition of this cohomology ring is geometrically realized by a product decomposition of the moment-angle manifold up to equivariant diffeomorphism. As an application, we find that B-rigid polytopes are closed under products, generalizing some recent results in the toric topology literature. Algebraically, our proof establishes that the Koszul homology of a Gorenstein Stanley–Reisner ring admits a nontrivial tensor product decomposition if and only if the underlying simplicial complex decomposes as a join of full subcomplexes.

We calculate the integral equivariant cohomology, in terms of generators and relations, of locally standard torus orbifolds whose odd degree ordinary cohomology vanishes. We begin by studying GKM-orbifolds, which are more general, before specializing to half-dimensional torus actions.

Assume that G is a graph with edge ideal $I(G)$ and star packing number $\alpha _2(G)$ . We denote the sth symbolic power of $I(G)$ by $I(G)^{(s)}$ . It is shown that the inequality $ \operatorname {\mathrm {depth}} S/(I(G)^{(s)})\geq \alpha _2(G)-s+1$ is true for every chordal graph G and every integer $s\geq 1$ . Moreover, it is proved that for any graph G, we have $ \operatorname {\mathrm {depth}} S/(I(G)^{(2)})\geq \alpha _2(G)-1$ .

Let (R, ) be an analytically unramified local ring of positive prime characteristic p. For an ideal I, let I* denote its tight closure. We introduce the tight Hilbert function $$H_I^*\left( n \right) = \Im \left( {R/\left( {{I^n}} \right)*} \right)$$ and the corresponding tight Hilbert polynomial $$P_I^*\left( n \right)$$, where I is an m-primary ideal. It is proved that F-rationality can be detected by the vanishing of the first coefficient of $$P_I^*\left( n \right)$$. We find the tight Hilbert polynomial of certain parameter ideals in hypersurface rings and Stanley-Reisner rings of simplicial complexes.

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.

A square-free monomial ideal $I$ of $k[x_{1},\ldots ,x_{n}]$ is said to be an $f$-ideal if the facet complex and non-face complex associated with $I$ have the same $f$-vector. We show that $I$ is an $f$-ideal if and only if its Newton complementary dual $\widehat{I}$ is also an $f$-ideal. Because of this duality, previous results about some classes of $f$-ideals can be extended to a much larger class of $f$-ideals. An interesting by-product of our work is an alternative formulation of the Kruskal–Katona theorem for $f$-vectors of simplicial complexes.

A fundamental idea in toric topology is that classes of manifolds with well-behaved torus actions (simply, toric spaces) are classified by pairs of simplicial complexes and (non-singular) characteristic maps. In a previous paper, the authors provided a new way to find all characteristic maps on a simplicial complex $K(J)$ obtainable by a sequence of wedgings from $K$.The main idea was that characteristic maps on $K$ theoretically determine all possible characteristic maps on a wedge of $K$.

We further develop our previous work for classification of toric spaces. For a star-shaped simplicial sphere $K$ of dimension $n-1$ with $m$ vertices, the Picard number Pic$(K)$ of $K$ is $m-n$. We call $K$ a seed if $K$ cannot be obtained by wedgings. First, we show that for a fixed positive integer $\ell $, there are at most finitely many seeds of Picard number $\ell $ supporting characteristic maps. As a corollary, the conjecture proposed by V. V. Batyrev in is solved affirmatively.

Secondly, we investigate a systematicmethod to find all characteristic maps on $K(J)$ using combinatorial objects called (realizable) puzzles that only depend on a seed $K$. These two facts lead to a practical way to classify the toric spaces of fixed Picard number.

In this work, we introduce a new set of invariants associated to the linear strands of a minimal free resolution of a $\mathbb{Z}$-graded ideal $I\subseteq R=\Bbbk [x_{1},\ldots ,x_{n}]$. We also prove that these invariants satisfy some properties analogous to those of Lyubeznik numbers of local rings. In particular, they satisfy a consecutiveness property that we prove first for the Lyubeznik table. For the case of squarefree monomial ideals, we get more insight into the relation between Lyubeznik numbers and the linear strands of their associated Alexander dual ideals. Finally, we prove that Lyubeznik numbers of Stanley–Reisner rings are not only an algebraic invariant but also a topological invariant, meaning that they depend on the homeomorphic class of the geometric realization of the associated simplicial complex and the characteristic of the base field.

Let R = k[x1,…,xn], where k is a field. The path ideal (of length t ≥ 2) of a directed graph G is the monomial ideal, denoted by It(G), whose generators correspond to the directed paths of length t in G. Let Cn be an n-cycle. We show that R/It(Cn) is Sr if and only if it is Cohen-Macaulay or $\lceil \frac{n}{n-t-1}\rceil\geq r+3$. In addition, we prove that R/It(Cn) is Gorenstein if and only if n = t or 2t + 1. Also, we determine all ordinary and symbolic powers of It(Cn) which are Cohen-Macaulay. Finally, we prove that It(Cn) has a linear resolution if and only if t ≥ n − 2.

Let S = K[x1,x2,…,xn] be a polynomial ring over a field K. Let Δ be a simplicial complex whose vertex set is contained in {1, 2,…,n}. For an integer k ≥ 0, we investigate the k-Buchsbaum property of residue class rings S/I(t); and S/It for the Stanley-Reisner ideal I = IΔ. We characterize the k-Buchsbaumness of such rings in terms of the simplicial complex Δ and the power t. We also give a characterization in the case where I is the edge ideal of a simple graph.

For a monomial ideal I of a polynomial ring S, a polarization of I is a square-free monomial ideal J of a larger polynomial ring such that S/I is a quotient of /J by a (linear) regular sequence. We show that a Borel fixed ideal admits a nonstandard polarization. For example, while the usual polarization sends ours sends it to x1y2y3 Using this idea, we recover/refine the results on square-free operation in the shifting theory of simplicial complexes. The present paper generalizes a result of Nagel and Reiner, although our approach is very different.

The multiplicity conjecture of Herzog, Huneke, and Srinivasan is verified for the face rings of the following classes of simplicial complexes: matroid complexes, complexes of dimension one and two, and Gorenstein complexes of dimension at most four. The lower bound part of this conjecture is also established for the face rings of all doubly Cohen–Macaulay complexes whose 1-skeleton's connectivity does not exceed the codimension plus one as well as for all $\text{(}d-1)$-dimensional $d$-Cohen–Macaulay complexes. The main ingredient of the proofs is a new interpretation of the minimal shifts in the resolution of the face ring $\mathbf{k}[\Delta ]$ via the Cohen–Macaulay connectivity of the skeletons of $\Delta $.

The face ring of a homology manifold (without boundary) modulo a generic system of parameters is studied. Its socle is computed and it is verified that a particular quotient of this ring is Gorenstein. This fact is used to prove that the algebraic g-conjecture for spheres implies all enumerative consequences of its far-reaching generalization (due to Kalai) to manifolds. A special case of Kalai’s conjecture is established for homology manifolds that have a codimension-two face whose link contains many vertices.

A toric face ring, which generalizes both Stanley-Reisner rings and affine semigroup rings, is studied by Bruns, Römer and their coauthors recently. In this paper, under the “normality” assumption, we describe a dualizing complex of a toric face ring R in a very concise way. Since R is not a graded ring in general, the proof is not straightforward. We also develop the square-free module theory over R, and show that the Cohen-Macaulay, Buchsbaum, and Gorenstein* properties of R are topological properties of its associated cell complex.

The concepts of Λ-shellability of locally finite posets as well as of extendable sequentially Koszul algebras will be introduced. It will be proved that the divisor poset of a homogeneous semigroup ring is Λ-shellable if and only if the semigroup ring is extendable sequentially Koszul. Examples of extendable sequentially Koszul semigroup rings contain all monomial ASL’s (algebras with straightening laws) and all second squarefree Veronese subrings.