Minimal Castelnuovo-Mumford regularity for a given Hilbert polynomial

Let $K$ be an algebraically closed field of null characteristic and $p(z)$ a Hilbert polynomial. We look for the minimal Castelnuovo-Mumford regularity $m_{p(z)}$ of closed subschemes of projective spaces over $K$ with Hilbert polynomial $p(z)$. Experimental evidences led us to consider the idea that $m_{p(z)}$ could be achieved by schemes having a suitable minimal Hilbert function. We give a constructive proof of this fact. Moreover, we are able to compute the minimal Castelnuovo-Mumford regularity $m_p(z)^{varrho}$ of schemes with Hilbert polynomial $p(z)$ and given regularity $varrho$ of the Hilbert function, and also the minimal Castelnuovo-Mumford regularity $m_u$ of schemes with Hilbert function $u$. These results find applications in the study of Hilbert schemes. They are obtained by means of minimal Hilbert functions and of two new constructive methods which are based on the notion of growth-height-lexicographic Borel set and called ideal graft and extended lifting.

Flat families by strongly stable ideals and a generalization of Groebner bases

Let J be a strongly stable monomial ideal in S=K[x_1,...,x_n] and let Mf(J) be the family of all homogeneous ideals I in S such that the set of all terms outside J is a K-vector basis of the quotient S/I. We show that an ideal I belongs to Mf(J) if and only if it is generated by a special set of polynomials, the J-marked basis of I, that in some sense generalizes the notion of reduced Groebner basis and its constructive capabilities. Indeed, although not every J-marked basis is a Groebner basis with respect to some term order, a sort of normal form modulo I (with the ideal I in Mf(J)) can be computed for every homogeneous polynomial, so that a J-marked basis can be characterized by a Buchberger-like criterion. Using J-marked bases, we prove that the family Mf(J) can be endowed, in a very natural way, with a structure of affine scheme that turns out to be homogeneous with respect to a non-standard grading and flat in the origin (the point corresponding to J), thanks to properties of J-marked bases analogous to those of Groebner bases about syzygies.