An algebraic study of ideals of weak graph homomorphisms

Abstract

Let $G$ and $H$ be finite simple graphs and assume that either both are undirected or both are directed. We introduce and study the ideal of weak graph homomorphisms $I_{G\to H}$. We characterize all graphs $G$ and $H$ for which every (equivalently, some) power of $I_{G\to H}$ has a linear resolution. Moreover, unmixedness, Cohen-Macaulayness, projective dimension and Castelnuovo-Mumford regularity of these ideals are studied.