Nonvanishing cohomology and classes of Gorenstein rings

We give counterexamples to the following conjecture of Auslander: given a finitely generated module $M$ over an Artin algebra $\Lambda$, there exists a positive integer $n_M$ such that for all finitely generated $\Lambda$-modules $N$, if \Ext_{\Lambda}^i(M,N)=0 for all $i\gg 0$, then \Ext_{\Lambda}^i(M,N)=0 for all $i\geq n_M$. Some of our examples moreover yield homologically defined classes of commutative local rings strictly between the class of local complete intersections and the class of local Gorenstein rings.Comment: 16 page

Free resolutions over short local rings

The structure of minimal free resolutions of finite modules M over commutative local rings (R,m,k) with m^3=0 and rank_k(m^2) < rank_k(m/m^2)is studied. It is proved that over generic R every M has a Koszul syzygy module. Explicit families of Koszul modules are identified. When R is Gorenstein the non-Koszul modules are classified. Structure theorems are established for the graded k-algebra Ext_R(k,k) and its graded module Ext_R(M,k).Comment: 17 pages; number of minor changes. This article will appear in the Journal of the London Math. So

The Scarf complex and betti numbers of powers of extremal ideals

This paper is concerned with finding bounds on betti numbers and describing combinatorially and topologically (minimal) free resolutions of powers of ideals generated by a fixed number $q$ of square-free monomials. Among such ideals, we focus on a specific ideal $\mathcal{E}_q$, which we call {\it extremal}, and which has the property that for each $r\ge 1$ the betti numbers of ${\mathcal{E}_q}^r$ are an upper bound for the betti numbers of $I^r$ for any ideal $I$ generated by $q$ square-free monomials (in any number of variables). We study the Scarf complex of the ideals ${\mathcal{E}_q}^r$ and use this simplicial complex to extract information on minimal free resolutions. In particular, we show that ${\mathcal{E}_q}^r$ has a minimal free resolution supported on its Scarf complex when $q\leq 4$ or when $r\leq 2$, and we describe explicitly this complex. For any $q$ and $r$, we also show that $\beta_1({\mathcal{E}_q}^r)$ is the smallest possible, or in other words equal to the number of edges in the Scarf complex. These results lead to effective bounds on the betti numbers of $I^r$, with $I$ as above. For example, we obtain that pd$(I^r)\leq 5$ for all ideals $I$ generated by $4$ square-free monomials and any $r\geq 1$