The arithmetical rank of the edge ideals of graphs with pairwise disjoint cycles

We prove that, for the edge ideal of a graph whose cycles are pairwise vertex-disjoint, the arithmetical rank is bounded above by the sum of the number of cycles and the maximum height of its associated primes

Cohomological dimension and arithmetical rank of some determinantal ideals

Let $M$ be a $(2 \times n)$ non-generic matrix of linear forms in a polynomial ring. For large classes of such matrices, we compute the cohomological dimension (cd) and the arithmetical rank (ara) of the ideal $I_2(M)$ generated by the $2$-minors of $M$. Over an algebraically closed field, any $(2 \times n)$-matrix of linear forms can be written in the Kronecker-Weierstrass normal form, as a concatenation of scroll, Jordan and nilpotent blocks. B\u{a}descu and Valla computed $\mathrm{ara}(I_2(M))$ when $M$ is a concatenation of scroll blocks. In this case we compute $\mathrm{cd}(I_2(M))$ and extend these results to concatenations of Jordan blocks. Eventually we compute $\mathrm{ara}(I_2(M))$ and $\mathrm{cd}(I_2(M))$ in an interesting mixed case, when $M$ contains both Jordan and scroll blocks. In all cases we show that $\mathrm{ara}(I_2(M))$ is less than the arithmetical rank of the determinantal ideal of a generic matrix