SEQUENTIALLY Sr SIMPLICIAL COMPLEXES AND SEQUENTIALLY S2 GRAPHS

We introduce sequentially Sr modules over a commutative graded ring and sequentially Sr simplicial complexes. This generalizes two properties for modules and simplicial complexes: being sequentially Cohen-Macaulay, and satisfying Serre’s condition Sr . In analogy with the sequentially CohenMacaulay property, we show that a simplicial complex is sequentially Sr if and only if its pure i-skeleton is Sr for all i. For r = 2, we provide a more relaxed characterization. As an algebraic criterion, we prove that a simplicial complex is sequentially Sr if and only if the minimal free resolution of the ideal of its Alexander dual is componentwise linear in the first r steps. We apply these results for a graph, i.e., for the simplicial complex of the independent sets of vertices of a graph. We characterize sequentially Sr cycles showing that the only sequentially S2 cycles are odd cycles and, for r ≥ 3, no cycle is sequentially Sr with the exception of cycles of length 3 and 5. We extend certain known results on sequentially Cohen-Macaulay graphs to the case of sequentially Sr graphs. We prove that a bipartite graph is vertex decomposable if and only if it is sequentially S2. We provide some more results on certain graphs which in particular implies that any graph with no chordless even cycle is sequentially S2. Finally, we propose some questions.