In the fall of 1992 I was invited by Professor Changho Keem to visit Seoul National University and give a series of talks. I was asked to write a monograph based on my talks, and the result was published by the Global Analysis Research Center of that University in 1994. The monograph treated deficiency modules and liaison theory for complete intersections. Over the next several years I continually thought of improvements and additions that I would like to make to the manuscript, and at the same time my research led me in directions that gave me a fresh perspective on much of the material, especially in the direction of liaison theory. This re sulted in a dramatic change in the focus of this manuscript, from complete intersections to Gorenstein ideals, and a substantial amount of additions and revisions. It is my hope that this book now serves not only as an introduction to a beautiful subject, but also gives the reader a glimpse at very recent developments and an idea of the direction in which liaison theory is going, at least from my perspective. One theme which I have tried to stress is the tremendous amount of geometry which lies at the heart of the subject, and the beautiful interplay between algebra and geometry. Whenever possible I have given remarks and examples to illustrate this interplay, and I have tried to phrase the results in as geometric a way as possible.

Let $R$ be a polynomial ring over an algebraically closed field and let $A$ be a standard graded Cohen-Macaulay quotient of $R$. The authors state that $A$ is a level algebra if the last module in the minimal free resolution of $A$ (as $R$-module) is of the form $R(-s)a$, where $s$ and $a$ are positive integers. When $a=1$ these are also known as Gorenstein algebras. The basic question addressed in this paper is: What can be the Hilbert Function of a level algebra? The authors consider the question in several particular cases, e.g., when $A$ is an Artinian algebra, or when $A$ is the homogeneous coordinate ring of a reduced set of points, or when $A$ satisfies the Weak Lefschetz Property. The authors give new methods for showing that certain functions are NOT possible as the Hilbert function of a level algebra and also give new methods to construct level algebras. In a (rather long) appendix, the authors apply their results to give complete lists of all possible Hilbert functions in the case that the codimension of $A = 3$, $s$ is small and $a$ takes on certain fixed values.

This volume's papers present work at the cutting edge of current research in algebraic geometry, commutative algebra, numerical analysis, and other related fields, with an emphasis on the breadth of these areas and the beneficial results obtained by the interactions between these fields. This collection of two survey articles and sixteen refereed research papers, written by experts in these fields, gives the reader a greater sense of some of the directions in which this research is moving, as well as a better idea of how these fields interact with each other and with other applied areas. The topics include blowup algebras, linkage theory, Hilbert functions, divisors, vector bundles, determinantal varieties, (square-free) monomial ideals, multiplicities and cohomological degrees, and computer vision.

This paper contributes to the liaison and obstruction theory of subschemes in $\mathbb{P}^n$ having codimension at least three. The first part establishes several basic results on Gorenstein liaison. A classical result of Gaeta on liaison classes of projectively normal curves in $\mathbb{P}^3$ is generalized to the statement that every codimension $c$ ``standard determinantal scheme'' (i.e. a scheme defined by the maximal minors of a $t\times (t+c-1)$ homogeneous matrix), is in the Gorenstein liaison class of a complete intersection. Then Gorenstein liaison (G-liaison) theory is developed as a theory of generalized divisors on arithmetically Cohen-Macaulay schemes. In particular, a rather general construction of basic double G-linkage is introduced, which preserves the even G-liaison class. This construction extends the notion of basic double linkage, which plays a fundamental role in the codimension two situation. The second part of the paper studies groups which are invariant under complete intersection linkage, and gives a number of geometric applications of these invariants. Several differences between Gorenstein and complete intersection liaison are highlighted. For example, it turns out that linearly equivalent divisors on a smooth arithmetically Cohen-Macaulay subscheme belong, in general, to different complete intersection liaison classes, but they are always contained in the same even Gorenstein liaison class. The third part develops the interplay between liaison theory and obstruction theory and includes dimension estimates of various Hilbert schemes. For example, it is shown that most standard determinantal subschemes of codimension $3$ are unobstructed, and the dimensions of their components in the corresponding Hilbert schemes are computed.

A comprehensive collection of expository articles on cutting-edge topics at the forefront of research in algebraic geometry.