Multi-graded generic initial ideals, regularity, and the optimal colorful fractional Helly theorem for $d$-Leray complexes

Abstract

A celebrated result of Bayer and Stillman from 1987 states that for a homogeneous ideal $I$ of a polynomial ring $S$, the regularities of $S/I$ and $S/\textrm{GIN}(I)$ are the same under the reverse lexicographic monomial ordering, where $\textrm{GIN}(I)$ is the generic initial ideal. If $R$ is a polynomial ring whose variables are subdivided into disjoint blocks of variables $X_1,\dots,X_c$, there is a natural multi-grading on $R$, and one can analogously define a multi-graded version of the generic initial ideal for any multi-homogeneous ideal $I$ of $R$. However, the full strength of the Bayer--Stillman Theorem fails in the multi-graded setting; there are multi-homogeneous ideals $I$ such that the regularities are not preserved after passing to the multi-graded generic initial ideal no matter the choice of monomial ordering. We prove lower bounds on the regularity of $R/I$ in terms of almost regular sequences of the multi-graded generic initial ideal of $I$ restricted to each block of variables. Again, we use the reverse lexicographic monomial ordering, but interestingly, the lower bound result requires a particular choice of ordering on the variables. As an application, we prove the optimal fractional Helly theorem for $d$-Leray simplicial complexes, a problem stemming from the work of Kim in 2017.