On the Castelnuovo-Mumford regularity of products of ideal sheaves

In this paper we give bounds on the Castelnuovo-Mumford regularity of products of ideals and ideal sheaves. In particular, we show that the regularity of a product of ideals is bounded by the sum of the regularities of its factors if the corresponding schemes intersect in a finite set of points. We also show how approximations of sheaves can be used to bound the regularity of an arrangement of two-planes in projective space.Comment: 9 pages, Minor additions to introduction, references added, typos corrected, minor change in exposition of main theore

Subspace arrangements defined by products of linear forms

We consider the vanishing ideal of an arrangement of linear subspaces in a vector space and investigate when this ideal can be generated by products of linear forms. We introduce a combinatorial construction (blocker duality) which yields such generators in cases with a lot of combinatorial structure, and we present the examples that motivated our work. We give a construction which produces all elements of this type in the vanishing ideal of the arrangement. This leads to an algorithm for deciding if the ideal is generated by products of linear forms. We also consider generic arrangements of points in ${\bf P}^2$ and lines in ${\bf P}^3.$Comment: 20 pages; AMSLatex; v.2: proof of Proposition 5.1.3 corrected; proof of Proposition 5.1.6 shortened; references added, v.3: minor corrections; final version; to appear in the Journal of the London Mathematical Societ

Multigraded regularity: coarsenings and resolutions

Let S = k[x_1,...,x_n] be a Z^r-graded ring with deg (x_i) = a_i \in Z^r for each i and suppose that M is a finitely generated Z^r-graded S-module. In this paper we describe how to find finite subsets of Z^r containing the multidegrees of the minimal multigraded syzygies of M. To find such a set, we first coarsen the grading of M so that we can view M as a Z-graded S-module. We use a generalized notion of Castelnuovo-Mumford regularity, which was introduced by D. Maclagan and G. Smith, to associate to M a number which we call the regularity number of M. The minimal degrees of the multigraded minimal syzygies are bounded in terms of this invariant.Comment: 20 pages, 1 figure; small corrections made; final version; to appear in J. of Algebr

Hyperbanana Graphs

A bar-and-joint framework is a finite set of points together with specified distances between selected pairs. In rigidity theory we seek to understand when the remaining pairwise distances are also fixed. If there exists a pair of points which move relative to one another while maintaining the given distance constraints, the framework is flexible; otherwise, it is rigid. Counting conditions due to Maxwell give a necessary combinatorial criterion for generic minimal bar-and-joint rigidity in all dimensions. Laman showed that these conditions are also sufficient for frameworks in R^2. However, the flexible "double banana" shows that Maxwell's conditions are not sufficient to guarantee rigidity in R^3. We present a generalization of the double banana to a family of hyperbananas. In dimensions 3 and higher, these are (infinitesimally) flexible, providing counterexamples to the natural generalization of Laman's theorem

Geometric aspects of the Jacobian of a hyperplane arrangement

An embedding of the complete bipartite graph $K_{3,3}$ in $\mathbb{P}^2$ gives rise to both a line arrangement and a bar-and-joint framework. For a generic placement of the six vertices, the graded Betti numbers of the logarithmic module of derivations of the line arrangement are constant, but an example due to Ziegler shows that the graded Betti numbers are different when the points lie on a conic. Similarly, in rigidity theory a generic embedding of $K_{3,3}$ in the plane is an infinitesimally rigid bar-and-joint framework, but the framework is infinitesimally flexible when the points lie on a conic. In this paper we develop the theory of weak perspective representations of hyperplane arrangements to formalize and generalize the striking connection between hyperplane arrangements and rigidity theory that this example suggests. In particular, we seek to understand how the interplay of combinatorics and geometry influence algebraic structures associated to an arrangement, such as the saturation of the Jacobian ideal of the arrangement. We make connections between examples and constructions from rigidity theory and interesting phenomena in the study of hyperplane arrangements.Comment: 34 pages, 11 figures. Changes made primarily to expositio