The structure of almost Cohen-Macaulay $3$-generated ideals of codimension $2$ in terms of matrix theory

Abstract

Let $R$ be a standard graded polynomial ring over a field $k$. The paper focuses on homogeneous ideals $J \subset R$ of codimension $2$ generated by three forms of the same degree $d \geq 2$ that are almost Cohen--Macaulay, i.e., of homological dimension $2$. Based on the structure of the minimal graded free resolution of $J$ and numerical data encoded in certain \emph{latent data}, one introduces the notion of \emph{level matrices} associated with these data. The main result provides a complete characterization of an almost Cohen--Macaulay $3$-generated ideal $J$ of codimension $2$ in terms of the existence of a related level matrix for which $J$ arises as the ideal of its maximal minors that fix a submatrix. One provides algebraic and geometric examples illustrating the results.