Divisors on Graphs, Connected Flags, and Syzygies

We study the binomial and monomial ideals arising from linear equivalence of divisors on graphs from the point of view of Gröbner theory. We give an explicit description of a minimal Gröbner bases for each higher syzygy module. In each case, the given minimal Gröbner bases is also a minimal generating set. The Betti numbers of the binomial ideal and its natural initial ideal coincide and they correspond to the number of “connected flags” in the graph. In particular, the Betti numbers are independent of the characteristic of the base field. For complete graphs, the problem was previously studied by Postnikov and Shapiro [27] and by Manjunath and Sturmfels [19]. The case of a general graph was stated as an open problem.