9 0 On simple A-multigraded minimal resolutions 0 2 Hara Charalambous and Apostolos Thoma n a J Abstract. Let Abeasemigroupwhoseonlyinvertibleelement is0. For an 9 A-homogeneous ideal we discuss the notions of simple i-syzygies and simple minimalfreeresolutionsofR/I. WhenIisalatticeideal,thesimple0-syzygies ] ofR/I arethebinomialsinI. Weshowthatforanappropriatechoiceofbases C everyA-homogeneous minimalfreeresolutionofR/I issimple. Weintroduce A the gcd-complex∆gcd(b)foradegree b∈A. We showthat thehomology of . ∆gcd(b) determines the i-Betti numbers of degree b. We discuss the notion h of an indispensable complex of R/I. We show that the Koszul complex of a t completeintersectionlatticeidealIistheindispensableresolutionofR/Iwhen a theA-degreesoftheelementsofthegeneratingR-sequenceareincomparable. m [ 1 v 1. Notation 6 9 LetL⊂Zn be alattice suchthatL∩Nn ={0}andletAbethe subsemigroup 1 of Zn/L generated by {a = e +L : 1 ≤ i ≤ n} where {e : 1 ≤ i ≤ n} is the 1 i i i canonical basis of Zn. Since the only element in A with an inverse is 0, it follows . 1 that we can partially order A with the relation 0 9 c≥d⇐⇒ there is e∈A such that c=d+e. 0 : Let k be a field. We consider the polynomial ring R = k[x ,...,x ]. We set v 1 n i degA(xi)=ai. If xv =xv11···xvnn then we set X deg (xv):=v a +···+v a ∈A . r A 1 1 n n a ItfollowsthatRispositivelymultigradedbythesemigroupA,see[13]. Thelattice idealassociatedtoListheidealIL(orIA)generatedbyallthebinomialsxu+−xu− where u+,u− ∈ Nn and u = u+ −u− ∈ L. We note that if xu+ −xu− ∈ IL then deg xu+ = deg xu−. Prime lattice ideals are the defining ideals of toric A A varieties and are calledtoric ideals, [23]. In generallattice ideals arise in problems fromdiverseareasof mathematics,including toric geometry,integer programming, dynamical systems, graph theory, algebraic statistics, hypergeometric differential equations, we refer to [12] for more details. WesaythananidealIofRisA-homogeneousifitisgeneratedbyA-homogeneous polynomials, i.e. polynomials whose monomial terms have the same A-degree. 1991 Mathematics Subject Classification. 13D02, 13D25. Key words and phrases. Resolutions, lattice ideal, syzygies, indispensable syzygies, Scarf complex. 1 2 H.CHARALAMBOUSANDA.THOMA Lattice ideals are clearly A-homogeneous. For the rest of the paper I is an A- homogeneous ideal. For b ∈ A we let R[−b] be the A-graded free R-module of rank 1 whose generator has A-degree b. Let (F ,φ): 0−→F −φ→p ······−→F −φ→1 F −→R/I−→0, • p 1 0 be a minimal A-graded free resolution of R/I. The i-Betti number of R/I of A- degree b, β (R/I), equals the rank of the R-summand of F of A-degree b: i,b i βi,b(R/I)=dimkTori(R/I,k)b andis aninvariantof I, see [13]. The degreesb for whichβ (R/I)6=0 are called i,b i-Betti degrees. The minimal elements of the set {b : β (R/I) 6= 0} are called i,b minimali-Betti degrees. The elements ofImφ =kerφ arethe i-syzygiesofR/I i+1 i in F . • TheproblemofobtaininganexplicitminimalfreeresolutionofR/Iisextremely difficult. One of the factors that make this problem hard to attack, is that given a minimalfreeresolutiononecanobtainbyachangeofbasisadifferentdescriptionof thisresolution. Toobtainsomecontroloverthis,in[10]wedefinedsimple minimal freeresolutions. We alsodefined andstudiedthe gcd-complex∆ (b)fora degree gcd b∈A. We used this complex to generalize the results in [19] and to construct the generalizedalgebraicScarfcomplexbasedontheconnectedcomponentsof∆ (b) gcd fordegreesb∈A. WhenI isalatticeidealweshowedthatthegeneralizedalgebraic Scarf complex is present in every simple minimal free resolution of R/I. This current paper analyzes in more detail the notions presented in [10]. We note that the original motivation for this work came from a question in Algebraic Statistics concerning conditions for the uniqueness of a minimal binomial generating set of toric ideals. The structure of this paper is as follows. In section 2 we discuss the notion of simple i-syzygies of R/I. The simple 0-syzygies of R/I when I is a lattice ideal are exactly the binomials of I. We also discuss the notion of a simple minimal free resolution of R/I. This notion requires the presence of a system of bases for the free modules of the resolution. We show that for an appropriate choice of bases every A-homogeneous minimal free resolution of R/I is simple. In section 3 we discuss the gcd-complex ∆ (b) for a degree b ∈ A. We show that the gcd homology of ∆ (b) determines the i-Betti numbers of degree b. We count the gcd numbers of binomials that could be part of a minimal binomial generating set of a lattice ideal up to a constant multiple. In section 4 we discuss the notion of indispensable i-syzygies. Intrinsically indispensable i-syzygies are present in all A- homogeneoussimple minimal free resolutions. For the 0-stepandfor alattice ideal I this means that there are some binomials of the ideal I that are part (up to a L L constant multiple) of all A-homogeneous systems of minimal binomial generators of I . A strongly indispensable i-syzygy needs to be present in every minimal free L resolution of R/I even if the resolution is not simple. For the 0-step and for a lattice ideal I this means that there are some elements of I that are part (up to L L a constant multiple) of all A-homogeneous minimal sets of generators of I , where L the generators are not necessarily binomials. We consider conditions for strongly indispensable i-syzygies to exist. We show that the Koszul complex of a complete intersection lattice ideal I is indispensable when the A-degrees of the elements of the generating R-sequence are incomparable. SYZYGIES 3 2. Simple syzygies We recall and generalize the definition of a simple i-syzygy,see [10, Definition 3.1], to arbitrary elements of an A-graded free module. Let F be a free A-graded module of rank β and let B = {E : t = 1,...,β} be an A-homogeneous basis of t F. Let h be an A-homogeneous element of F: h= X (X catxat)Ei . 1≤t≤β cat6=0 The S-support of h with respect to B is the set S (h)={xatE : c 6=0} . B i at We introduce a partial order on the elements of F: h′ ≤h if and only if S (h′)⊂S (h) . B B Definition 2.1. Let F and B be as above, let G be an A-graded subset of F and let h be an A-homogeneous nonzero element of G. We say that h is simple in GwithrespecttoB ifthereisnononzeroA-homogeneoush′ ∈Gsuchthath′ <h. In [10, Theorem 3.4] we showed that if (F ,φ) is a minimal free resolution • of R/I then for any given basis B of F there exists a minimal A-homogeneous i generatingsetofkerφ consistingofsimplei-syzygieswithrespecttoB. Theproof i ofthe next propositionis animmediate generalizationofthe proofof thattheorem and is omitted. Proposition2.2. LetF beafreeA-gradedmodule,letB beanA-homogeneous basis of F and let G be an A-graded submodule of F. There is a minimal system of generators of G each being simple in G with respect to B. GivenanA-homogeneouscomplexoffreemodules(G ,φ)wespecifyA-homoge- • neous bases B for the homological summands G . The collection of theses bases i i forms a system of bases B. We write B=(B ) and we say that B is in B. i i Definition 2.3. A based complex (G ,φ,B) is an A-homogeneous complex • (G ,φ) together with a system of bases B = (B ). Let (G ,φ,B) and (F ,φ,C) • i • • be two based complexes, B = (B ) and C = (C ). We say that the complex i i homomorphism ω : G −→F is a based homomorphism if for each E ∈ B , there • • i exists an H ∈C such that ω(E)=cH for some c∈k∗. i Let I be an A-homogeneous ideal and let (F ,φ) be a minimal A-graded free • resolutionof R/I. We let s be the projective dimension of R/I and β be the rank i of F . For each i we suppose that B is an A-homogeneous basis of F and we let i i i B=(B ,B ,...,B ). 0 1 s Definition 2.4. ([10,Definition 3.5])Let(F ,φ,B)be asabove. We saythat • (F ,φ,B) is simple if and only if for each i and each E ∈ B , φ (E) is simple in • i i kerφ with respect to B . i−1 i−1 We remark that when I is a lattice ideal then for any choice of basis B , the 0 simple 0-syzygies of R/I are the binomials of I. It is an immediate consequence of Proposition 2.2 that one can construct a minimal simple resolution of R/I with respecttoasystemB=(B ,...,B )startingwithB ={1},seealso[10,Corollary 0 s 0 3.6]. In the next proposition we show that any minimal free resolution (F ,φ) of • R/I becomes simple with the right choice of bases. 4 H.CHARALAMBOUSANDA.THOMA Proposition 2.5. Let I be an A-homogeneous ideal and let (F ,φ) be a min- • imal free resolution of R/I. There exists a system of bases B so that (F ,φ,B) is • simple. Proof. Let C = {1} and for each i > 0 choose a basis C = {H : t = 0 i ti 1,...,β }ofF . Let(G ,θ)beasimpleminimalfreeresolutionofR/I withrespect i i • toD=(D ,...,D )whereD ={1}andD ={E : t=1,...,β }. SinceG ,F 0 s 0 i ti i • • arebothminimalprojectiveresolutionsofR/Ithereisanisomorphismofcomplexes h : G −→F that extends the identity map on R/I. In particular h =id . For • • • 0 R each i we let H′ = h (E ) and consider the set B = {H′ : t = 1,...,β }. We ti i ti i ti i note that B = {1}. It is immediate that B is a basis for F . We claim that 0 i i (F ,φ,B) is simple. • Indeed for t=1,...,β using the commutativity of the diagram we get that 1 φ (H′ )=φ (h (E ))=h (θ (E ))=θ (E ) . 1 t1 1 1 t1 0 1 t1 1 t1 Since θ (E ) is simple with respect to C it follows at once that φ (H′ ) is simple 1 t1 0 1 t1 with respect to B . For i>1 and t=1,...,β we have that 0 i φ (H′ )=φ (h (E ))=h (θ (E )) . i ti i i ti i−1 i ti Suppose that φ (H′ ) were not simple with respect to B . Since h is bijective i ti i−1 i−1 it follows that θ (E ) is not simple with respect to D , a contradiction. (cid:3) i ti i−1 Let I be an A-homogeneous ideal and let (F ,φ) be a minimal free resolution • of R/I. An i-syzygy h of R/I minimal if h is part of a minimal generating set of kerφ . By the graded version of Nakayama’s lemma it follows that h is minimal if i and only if h cannot be written as an R-linear combination of i-syzygies of R/I of strictly smaller A-degrees. The next theorem examines the cardinality of the set of minimal i-syzygies of a free resolution of R/I. Theorem 2.6. Let I be an A-homogeneous ideal and let (F ,φ) be a mini- • mal free resolution of R/I. Let ≡ be the following equivalence relation among the elements of F : i h≡h′ if and only if h=ch′,c∈k∗ , and let B be a basis of F . The set of equivalence classes of the i-syzygies of R/I i i that are minimal and simple with respect to B is finite. i Proof. We will show that the number of equivalence classes of the i-syzygies that are simple and have A-degree equal to an (i+1)-Betti degree b of R/I is finite. By [10, Theorem 3.8] if h,h′ ∈ kerφ are simple with respect to B and i i S (h)=S (h′) then h≡h′. Thus it is enough to show that there is only a finite Bi Bi number of candidates for S (h) when h ∈ F has deg (h) = b. We consider the Bi i A set C ={xaE :deg (xaE )=b , E ∈B }. t A t t i We note that S (h) ⊂ P(C) where P(C) is the power set of C. The number of Bi basis elements E ∈B such that deg (E )≤b is finite. Moreoverfor such E the t i A t t number of monomials xa such that deg (xa)+deg (E ) = b is finite. It follows A A t that C and its power set P(C) are finite as desired. (cid:3) In the next section we determine the cardinality of this set when I is a lattice ideal and i=0. In other words we compute the number of the equivalence classes of the minimal binomials of I. SYZYGIES 5 3. The gcd-complex For b∈A, we let C equal the fiber b C :=deg−1(b)=deg−1(b):={xu : deg (xu)=b}. b A L A Let I be a lattice ideal. The fiber C plays an essential role in the study of the L b minimalfree resolutionofR/I asis evidentfromseveralworks,see[3, 9, 10, 11, L 19, 20]. We denote the supportofthe vectoru=(u )bysupp(u):={i:u 6=0}. Next j i werecallthedefinitionofthesimplicialcomplex∆ onnvertices,constructedfrom b C as follows: b ∆ :={F ⊂supp(a): xa ∈C }. b b ∆ has been studied extensively, see for example [2, 4, 5, 7, 8, 17, 18]. Its b homology determines the Betti numbers of R/I : L βi,b(R/IL)=dimkH˜i(∆b) , see [22] or [13] for a proof. Inthissectionwepresentanothersimplicialcomplex,thegcd-complex∆ (b), gcd whoseconstructionisbaseduponthedivisibilitypropertiesofthemonomialsofC . b Definition 3.1. For a vector b ∈ A we define the gcd-complex ∆ (b) to gcd be the simplicial complex with vertices the elements of the fiber C and faces all b subsets T ⊂C such that gcd(xa : xa ∈T)6=1. b The example below compares graphically the two simplicial complexes in a particular case. Example1. LetR=k[a,b,c,d]andletAbethesemigroupA=h(4,0),(3,1), (1,3),(0,4)i. For b = (6,10) we consider the fiber C = {bc3,ac2d,b2d2} and (6,10) the corresponding simplicial complexes. We see that ∆gcd(b) ∆b a b ac2d b bbc3 b b2d2 c b b d b b The main theorem of this section, Theorem 3.2 was proved independently in [16]. Theorem 3.2. Let b∈A. The gcd complex ∆ (b) and the complex ∆ have gcd b the same homology. Proof. First we consider the simplicial complex ∆ with vertices the elements of the set S ={supp(a): xa ∈C } and faces all subsets T ⊂S such that b \ supp(a)6=∅ . supp(a)∈T We define anequivalencerelationamongthe verticesof∆ (b): we letxa ≡xa′ if gcd andonly if supp(a)=supp(a′). We note that the subcomplex A of ∆ (b) onthe gcd 6 H.CHARALAMBOUSANDA.THOMA vertices of an equivalence class is contractible. By the Contractible Subcomplex Lemma[6] wegetthat the quotientmapπ :|∆ (b)|−→|∆ (b)|/|A| is ahomo- gcd gcd topy equivalence. A repeated application of the Contractible Subcomplex Lemma yields that ∆ (b) and ∆ have the same homology. gcd Nextweconsiderthe familyF ofthe facetsof∆ andthe correspondingnerve b complex N(F). The vertices of N(F) correspond to the facets of ∆ , while the b faces of N(F) correspond to collections of facets with nonempty intersection. It follows that N(F) is isomorphic to ∆. By [21, Theorem 7.26] the two complexes ∆ and ∆ have the same homology and the theorem now follows. (cid:3) b The following is now immediate: Corollary 3.3. Let I be a lattice ideal. L βi,b(R/IL)=dimkH˜i(∆gcd(b)). The connected components of ∆ (b) were used in [10] to determine certain gcd complexesassociatedtoasimpleminimalfreeA-homogeousresolutionofR/I ,see L [10, Definitions 4.7 and5.1]. InTheorem3.5 belowwe use the complex∆ (b) to gcd determine the number of equivalence classes of minimal binomial generators of I . L First we prove the following lemma: Lemma 3.4. For b∈A, let I be the ideal generated by all binomials of I of L,b L A-degree strictly smaller than b. Let G(b) be the graph with vertices the elements of C and edges all the sets {xu,xv} whenever xu−xv ∈I . A set of monomials b L,b in C forms the vertex set of a component of G(b) if and only if it forms the vertex b set of a component of ∆ (b). gcd Proof. We note that if xu,xv belong to the same component of ∆ (b) gcd then there exists a sequence of monomials xu = xu1,xu2,...,xus = xv such that d=gcd(xui,xui+1)6=1. Therefore xui xui+1 xui −xui+1 =d( − )∈IL,b . d d It follows that xu−xv ∈I and xu,xv belong to the same component of G(b). L,b For the converse we note that the binomials of degree b in I are spanned L,b by binomials of the form xa(xr −xs) where xa 6= 1. Moreover any such binomial determines an edge from xa+r to xa+s in ∆ (b). Thus if xu, xv lie in the same gcd component of G(b) then any minimal expression of xu−xv as a sum of binomials xa(xr−xs) results in a path from xu to xv in ∆ (b). (cid:3) gcd ThegraphG(b)wasfirstintroducedin[9]todeterminethenumberofdifferent binomialgeneratingsetsofatoricidealI . Theresultsstatedfortoricidealsin[9] L hold more generally for lattice ideals with identical proofs. We choose an ordering of the connected components of ∆ (b) and let t (b) be the number of vertices of gcd i the i-th component of ∆ (b). gcd Theorem 3.5. Let I be a lattice ideal and consider the equivalence relation L on R of Theorem 2.6. The cardinality of the set T of equivalence classes of the minimal binomials of I is given by L |T|= XXti(b)tj(b). b∈Ai6=j SYZYGIES 7 Proof. In the course of the proof of [9, Theorem 2.6] applied to the lattice ideal I it was shown that the minimal binomials of A-degree b are the difference L of monomials that belong to different connected components of G(b). Lemma 3.4 and a counting argument finishes the proof. (cid:3) We remark that if b ∈ A is not a 1-Betti degree of R/I , then there is no L minimalbinomial generatorofA-degree b. It followsthat ∆ (b) has exactly one gcd connected component. The nontrivialcontributions to the formula of Theorem3.5 come from the 1-Betti degrees of R/I . L 4. Indispensable syzygies In this section we discuss the notion of indispensable complexes that first ap- peared in [10, Definition 3.9]. Intrinsically an indispensable complex of R/I is a based complex (F ,φ,B) that is “contained” in any based simple minimal free • resolution of R/I. The indispensable binomialsofa lattice idealI are the binomials thatappear L in every minimal system of binomial generators of the ideal up to a constant mul- tiple. They werefirstdefinedin[15]andtheirstudy wasoriginallymotivatedfrom Algebraic Statistics; see [1, 14, 15, 24] for a series of related papers. Theorem4.1. LetI bealatticeideal. TheindispensablebinomialsofI occur L L exactly in the minimal A-degrees b such that ∆ (b) consists of two disconnected gcd vertices. Proof. Thistheoremwasprovedin[9]fortoricideals. Thesameproofapplies to lattice ideals. (cid:3) An immediate consequence of Theorem 4.1 is the following: Corollary 4.2. Let I be a lattice ideal and S a minimal system of A- L homogeneous (not necessarily binomial) generators of I . If f is an indispensable L binomial of I then there is a c∈k∗ such that cf ∈S. L Proof. Let f be an indispensable binomial of I and b = deg f. Since L A H (∆ (b)) = 1 there is a unique element f′ in S of A-degree b. Since C is a 1 gcd b set with exactly two elements it follows that f′ is a binomial. Since I contains no L monomials, it follows that f′ =cf for some c∈k∗. (cid:3) It is clear that if (F ,φ,B) is a minimal free resolution of R/I and f is an • L indispensablebinomial,thenthereexistsanelementE ∈B andac∈k∗ suchthat 1 φ (E) = cf. We let the indispensable 0-syzygies of R/I to be the indispensable 1 L binomials of I . We extend the definition for i≥0: L Definition 4.3. Let (F ,φ,B) be a based complex. We say that (F ,φ,B) • • is an indispensable complex of R/I if for each based minimal simple free resolution (G ,θ,C) of R/I where C = {1}, there is an injective based homomorphism • 0 ω :(F ,φ,B)→(G ,θ,C) such that ω =id . If B=(B ) and E ∈B we say • • 0 R j i+1 that φ (E)∈F is an indispensable i-syzygy of R/I. i+1 i Itfollowsimmediatelyfromthedefinitionthatanindispensablei-syzygyofR/I issimple. Moreoverif(F ,φ,B)isanindispensable complex ofR/I and(G ,θ,W) • • isaminimalsimple freeresolutionofR/I thenthe basedhomomorphismofDefini- tion4.3 is unique, up to rearrangementofthe bases elements ofthe same A-degree 8 H.CHARALAMBOUSANDA.THOMA and constant factors. In [10, Theorem 5.2] we showed that if I is a lattice ideal L then the generalized algebraic Scarf complex is an indispensable complex. The next theorem examines when the Koszul complex of a lattice ideal gen- erated by an R-sequence of binomials is indispensable. Let I be an ideal gener- ated by an R-sequence f ,...,f and let (K ,φ) be the Koszul complex on the 1 s • f . We denote the basis element e ∧ ···∧e of K by e where J is the or- i j1 jt t J dered set {j ,...,j } and let sgn[j ,J] = (−1)k+1. For each j ∈ J we write J 1 t k j for the set J \ {j}. The canonical system of bases B = (B ,...,B ) consists 0 s of the following: B = {1}, B = {e : i = 1,...,s} where φ (e ) = f and 0 1 i 1 i i B ={e : J ={j ,...,j }, 1≤j <...<j ≤s} where t J 1 t 1 t φt(eJ)=Xsgn[j,J] fjeJj . j∈J In[10,Example3.7]itwasshownthat(K ,φ,B)isasimpleminimalfreeresolution • of R/I. Theorem4.4. LetI =(f ,...,f )bealatticeidealwhere{f :i=1,...,s}is L 1 s i an R-sequence of binomials such that b =deg (f ) are incomparable. Let (K ,φ) i A i • be the Koszul complex on the f and let B be the canonical system of bases of K. i Then (K ,φ,B) is an indispensable complex of R/I . • L Proof. Let fi =xui −xvi. We note that if eJ ∈Bt then degA(eJ)=XdegAfi i∈J and (K ,φ) is A-homogeneous. The incomparability assumption on the degrees of • the f shows that each b is minimal and that β (R/I)=1. It follows that f is i i 1,bi i an indispensable binomial, see [9, Corollary3.8]. We also note that for each i, C bi consists of exactly two monomials. Let(G ,θ,W)beasimpleminimalresolutionofR/I whereW=(W ,...,W ) • L 0 s and W = {1}. We let ω = id : K −→G . We prove that there is a based 0 0 R 0 0 isomorphism ω : (K ,φ,B)−→ (G ,θ,W) which extends ω by showing that if • • 0 ω : K −→G has been defined for i ≤ k then ω can be constructed with the i i i k+1 desired properties. Thus we assume that for each basis element e of B there J k exists c ∈k∗ and H ∈W such that ω (e )=c H . We note that if e ∈B J J k k J J J L k+1 then ω φ (e ),i.e. k k+1 L Xsgn[j,L] fj cLj HLj j∈L isasimplek-syzygywithrespecttoW . Thisfollowsasintheproofof[9,Corollary k 3.8]. We will define ω : K −→G by specifying its image in the basis k+1 k+1 k+1 elements e of B so that the following identity holds: L k θ ω (e )=ω φ (e ) . k+1 k+1 L k k+1 L Since ω φ (e ) is a k-syzygy,it follows that k k+1 L t ωkφk+1(eL)=Xθk+1(piHi) i=1 where H ∈W and deg (p H )=deg (e ). We will show that t=1. First we i k+1 A i i A L notice that for some i S (θ (p H ))∩S (ω (φ (e )))6=∅ . Wk k+1 i i Wk k k+1 L SYZYGIES 9 Without loss of generality we can assume that this is the case for i = 1 and we write H in place of H . Moreover we can assume that 1 • L={1,...,k+1} and that • xu1HL1 ∈SWk(θk+1(H))∩SWk(ωk(φk+1(eL))). Letq be the coefficient ofH inθ (H). We havethatdeg (p q )=b . We L1 L1 k+1 A 1 L1 1 will show that p q is a constant multiple of f . For t ∈ L we write L for the 1 L1 1 1 1,t setL \{t}. Sinceθ θ (H)=0thecoefficientofH inθ θ (H)mustbezero 1 k k+1 L1,t k k+1 for any t ∈ L . The contributions to this coefficient come from the differentiation 1 ofthetermofθ (H)involvingH andallothertermsofθ (H)involvingH k+1 L1 k+1 L′ where L′ \{t′} = L . Let X be the set consisting of such L′ and let q′ be the 1,t coefficient of H when L′ ∈X. We get L′ 0=sgn[t,L1]qL1ft+ X q′sgn[t′,L′]ft′ . L′∈X Since f ,...,f is a complete intersection it follows that q ∈ hf : L′ ∈ Xi. 1 s L1 t′ Therefore b ≥ deg (q ) ≥ deg (f ) for at least one t′. By the incomparability 1 A L1 A t′ of the degrees of the f it follows that t′ = 1, and q is a constant multiple of f i L1 1 and thus p ∈ k∗. Moreover we have shown that for each t in L there is a term 1 1 in θ (H) involving H . By a degree consideration it follows that the k+1 {1,...,tˆ,...,k+1} coefficient of this term has degree b and thus repeating the above steps we can t concludethatthecoefficientofthistermisaconstantmultipleoff . Itfollowsthat t S (ω φ (e ))⊂S (θ (H)) . Wk k k+1 L Wk k+1 Since θ (H)) is simple it follows that k+1 S (ω φ (e ))=S (θ (H)) , Wk k k+1 L Wk k+1 and θ (H)) = c ω φ (e ) where c ∈ k∗. We let H = H and c = c−1. It k+1 k k+1 L L L follows that the homomorphism ω :K −→G defined by setting k+1 k+1 k+1 ω (e )=c H k+1 L L L has the desired properties. (cid:3) Next we consider strongly indispensable complexes. Definition 4.5. Let (F ,φ,B) be a based complex. We say that (F ,φ,B) is • • a strongly indispensable complex of R/I if for every based minimal free resolution (G ,θ,C)ofR/I,(notnecessarysimple)withC ={1},thereisaninjectivebased • 0 homomorphism ω : (F ,φ,B)−→(G ,θ,C) such that ω = id . If B = (B ) and • • 0 R j E ∈B we say that φ (E)∈F is a strongly indispensable i-syzygy of R/I. i+1 i+1 i Strongly indispensable complexes are indispensable. This is a strict inclusion as[10,Example6.5]shows. WhenI isalattice ideal,the algebraicScarfcomplex L [19, Construction 3.1], is shown to be “contained” in the minimal free resolution of R/I , [19, Theorem 3.2], and is a strongly indispensable complex. Moreover as L follows from Corollary 4.2 the strongly indispensable 0-syzygies of R/I coincide L with the indispensable 0-syzygies of R/I and are the indispensable binomials of L I . For higher homological degrees this is no longer the case. First we note the L following: Theorem 4.6. Let I be a lattice ideal and let (F ,φ,B) be a strongly indis- L • pensable complex for R/I . Let B = (B ), E ∈ B and deg (E) = b. Then L j i+1 A dimkH˜i(∆gcd(b))=1 and b is a minimal i-Betti degree of R/IL. 10 H.CHARALAMBOUSANDA.THOMA Proof. Suppose that dimkH˜i(∆gcd(b))>1 or that there is an i-Betti degree b′ such that b′ < b. Let (G ,θ,C) be a minimal resolution of R/I where C = • L (C ), let ω :(F ,φ,B)−→(G ,θ,C) be the based homomorphism of Definition 4.5 i • • and suppose that ω(E) = cH where H ∈ C and c ∈ k∗. By our assumptions i+1 there exists H′ ∈ Ci+1 such that H′ 6= H and degA(H)≤ b. Let xa ∈Cb−b′. By replacing H with H +xaH′ we get a new basis C′ of G and a new system of i+1 i+1 bases C′ =(C′), where C′ =C for j 6=i+1. Let ω′ :(F ,φ,B)−→(G ,θ,C′) be j j j • • the based homomorphism of Definition 4.5: ω = ω′ for j ≤ i. Let H′′ ∈ C′ be j j i+1 such that ω′ (E)=c′H′′ where c′ ∈k∗. Thus i+1 θ (c′H′′)=θ (ω′ (E))=ω′φ (E)=ω φ (E)= i+1 i+1 i+1 i i+1 i i+1 θ (ω (E))=cθ (cH) . i+1 i+1 i+1 It follows that c′H′′ −cH ∈ kerθ . If H′′ 6= H +xaH′ then H′′ ∈ C and i+1 i+1 we get a direct contradiction to the minimality of (G ,θ,C). If H′′ = H +xaH′ • then θ ((c′−c)H +c′xaH′)=0. Examination of the two cases when (a) c′ 6=c, i+1 and (b) c′ = c, leads again to a contradiction of the minimality of the resolution (G ,θ,C). (cid:3) • Theorem 4.6 shows that the two conditions (1) dimkH˜i(∆gcd(b))=1 (2) b is a minimal i-Betti degree are necessary for the existence of a strongly indispensable i-syzygy in A-degree b. The following example shows that these conditions are not sufficient for the existenceofanindispensablei-syzygyandconsequentlyofastronglyindispensable i-syzygy. Example 2. Consider the lattice ideal I = hf ,f i where f = x − x , L 1 2 1 1 2 f = x −x and deg f = 1. Let (K ,φ) be the Koszul complex on the f . By 2 2 3 A i • i considering the i-Betti numbers for i = 1,2 it is immediate that dimkH2(∆2) = 1 and 2 is a minimal 2-Betti degree. However there is no indispensable complex of length greater than 0, since the generators of I are not indispensable binomials. L Generic lattice ideals are characterized by the condition that the binomials in a minimal generating set have full support, [19]. In this case the Scarf complex is aminimal free resolutionofR/I andeachofthe BettidegreesofR/I satisfy the L L conditions of Theorem4.6. We finish this section by giving the strongestresult for the opposite direction of Theorem 4.6. Theorem 4.7. Let I be a lattice ideal. The A-homogeneous minimal free L resolution (F ,φ,B) of R/I is strongly indispensable if and only if for each i- • L Betti degree b of R/IL, b is a minimal i-Betti degree and dimkH˜i(∆gcd(b))=1. Proof. One direction of this theorem follows directly from Theorem 4.6. For theotherdirectionweassumethatbisminimalwheneverbisani-Bettidegreeand that dimkH˜i(∆gcd(b)) = 1 for all i. Let (G•,θ,D) be a minimal free resolution of R/I . By assumption the A-degrees of the elements of D are distinct and L i incomparable. It follows that the A-homogeneous isomorphism ω : F−→G that extends id :F −→G is a based homomorphism. (cid:3) R 0 0 Acknowledgment The authors wouldlike to thank EzraMiller for his essentialcomments onthis manuscript.